The Great British Pie - Rich in flavour and history!

I was at a sunday market on the weekend sampling the local delights when I encountered a pie stall. Now for anyone who isn't British, your first thought on pie would probably apple or cherry, but here the most common types of pies are meat pies, and they have ancient roots.

Pies have been around since the ancient Egyptians, but it was the Romans who first enclosed a filling with a pastry-type substance made from flour and oil. The first published recipe actually features a rye dough filled with goats cheese and honey. YUM.

The classic british pie was similar to this but used local ingredients, no olive oil was available. So they used butter and lard mixed with flour to create a pastry your could mould into different shapes. It was an early way to preserve whatever filling was inside, so pies became popular food for travel, be it at sea (it was easier than taking a whole cow and butchering it en-route) or as part of a marching army. Generally back then you didn't eat the pastry that encased the filling, that was there to preserve the filling for longer. And so the Pie was born and create such delightful combinations like peppered steak, chicken and mushroom, potato and leak, or like in the image above, roasted cauliflower and caramelised red onion.

So, you can thank the Roman empire for bringing the concept of Pies to Northern Europe where it then evolved into the pies we eat today.

Also, did you know the first fruit pie was a cherry pie served to Queen Victoria? Neither did I.. until I researched for this post!