English Pie Foodways

Specialised

⚠ SHEPHERD’S PIE IS LAMB AND COTTAGE PIE IS BEEF, and both are mince under mashed potato rather than pastry — a distinction that is genuine, frequently got wrong, and older than either name is generally assumed. Beyond them: steak and kidney pie; the raised HOT-WATER CRUST pies, of which Melton Mowbray is the type; game pie; pork pie; fish pie; the Cornish pasty as a portable relative; and the fruit pies. Pastry itself was medieval "coffin" — a hard container meant to hold and preserve rather than to be eaten.