Does a pie need a top and bottom?

[ladymalfoy45]

So,I'm making a chicken pie and my DH is of the opinion that a pie needs a top and bottom. I think it just needs a top. ( Like Cottage or Shepard's pie) .
The recipe just has a short crust top( but I fancy making a flaky pastry one instead).
So does a pie need a bottom? TKC ( The Kitchen Cabinet) says not.
I don't mind doing the bottom as well as the top ,but it's the definition of ' pie' that I need you all to help me with.
It's a recipe from Saturday Kitchen Live I'm making. Just to address any further question.

What kind of pie and is it northern or southern? Generally in my experience northern pies have tops and bottoms and southern pies only have tops. Often of very insipid undercooked flaky pastry.

With the exception of Pie minster and some Charlie Bighams.

Looking at the ‘Radiation Cookery Book’ (1927) and ‘Food in England’ (1954) it doesn’t look as though English meat pies traditionally needed a double crust.
I feel as though it’s a reaction to pubs cooking the crust separately that’s led to this demand for the meat to be encased.

Mashed Potato topping = pie

Pastry double crust= pie

Pastry top crust only = stew with a lid pot pie

@ladymalfoy45
The filling can be hot or cold going into the pastry. I first tried it with a warm filling (pecan pie) and have done it for apple pie (cold, uncooked apples), pumpkin pie (cold custard filling, and very prone to producing a soggy bottom) and also chicken pot pie (cold, precooked chicken and peas, warm cooked carrots, warm bechamel).

This is NOT a flan

@TimeandMotion Thanks for that.

Yes! Otherwise a sort of stew with with puff pastry top- yuck

Surely a flan has a pastry bottom but not a top.

Don’t ever come to Scotland on 1 January.

Yes a top and a bottom for a pie. I don’t bother blind baking the pastry, just put the pie on the bottom of the aga oven and it’s crisps up nicely

Why, what happens in Scotland on 1 January? I didn’t know puff pastry top was a seasonal delicacy in Scotland.

Steak pie, which is a pie with a puff pastry top but no pastry on the bottom, is the traditional New Year’s Day meal in Scotland.

Details here

I only like a top on a pie which, according to everyone in my family, makes me a disgrace. I care not a jot.

Ooooh a divisive question. Yes a pie definitely needs a bottom or it's not a pie; it's slop with a pastry lid.

BUT I am a fan of the pastry lattice as a top instead of a lid, I feel you can enjoy the filling more without having pastry overload.

Disappointed here in scotland tbh. Thought you lot would be allys in pie. Scotch pie? Proper pie. You're just seasonally incompetent it seems 😉

Definitely need a bottom on a pastry pie or it’s just disappointing. Shepherds pie etc are the anomalies!!

It’s standard at New Year but also eaten all year round. No seasonal incompetence at play.

Yes, a scotch pie has pastry all the way round. The steak pie and the scotch pie are both traditional Scottish pies and are not mutually exclusive. A pie can have a bottom if you want it to, but it does not have to have a bottom to be a pie.

Yes! I remember these plates-Pyrex?? Always glass. Corned beef pie, chicken and leek pie-shallow and delicious.

I have been making meat pies since the late 1970's and have never, ever gone to the soggy faff of having a bottom as well as a top. Apple pies yes, but savoury ones - never bothered.

If anyone in the family decided to criticise or complain about my cooking, they would very soon discover that my catering services have come to an abrupt halt. They know this. They have never complained. 😂

On the odd occasion I have ordered a pie when out, if it's come with only a top , I have felt short changed. In.my humble opinion, yes it has a top and a bottom

If it has a pastry lid, it needs a pastry surround to be a pie, IMO.

If it's only got a bottom, it's a tart or a flan or a quiche, depending on filling. If it's got a top and bottom, it's a pie. If it's only got a mashed potato top, it's a pie. But if it's only got a pastry top, if it's not a pie, what is it?

I like a soggy bottom, too.

That pisses me off to get that in a pub....it not a pie.