Pies; Meat and Otherwise
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Pies are a critical part of every culture; whether it be meat, fruit, or just plain pastry, it is sure to be included in the weekly menu at least once.
Australian 'Meat' Pies
Aussie meat pies are a cultural icon - they are a cheap, effective way for the Australian meat industry to be rid of the offal that's left over after making edible meat products.
The 'traditional' brand (Four 'n' Twenty - methinks there is a reference to a certain group of blackbirds here....) of meat pie is 10-ish centimetres in diameter, filled with bits of chunky meat bi-products swimming in a gravy sauce that makes your eyes water...all surrounded by a soggy-if-microwaved, slightly-less-soggy-if-not pastry shell.
The best-selling place for meat pies is undoubtedly at the footy (AFL), where they are bought religiously by men and women alike - for no particular reason other than the fact that "They're there".
It is recommend that great lashings of Tomato Sauce be served with the pie, for the maximum deadening of all sense of taste.
British Pork Pies
Written by G.
At its best, it's served piping hot, a cylindrical lump of pork shoulder 10-15 cm in diameter, seasoned with black pepper and salt and encased in lovely crumbly pastry. In between the meat and the pastry is a layer of stock that melts, seeps out over your plate as you cut into the pastry, serves as a counterpoint to the dryness of the pastry, damages your arteries and makes the washing-up difficult.
At its worst, it's a cold picnic item, bought in plastic wrapping, 5-6 cm in diameter. The meat is reconstituted, the stock is solid jelly and the pastry is a bit soggy. And even then it's quite gorgeous.
