Pie Basics

Pie really forms as important a factor in American civilization as the pot-au-feu does in France.

GEORGE SALA, AMERICA REVISITED, CA. EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Pies go back at least as far as ancient Rome. At first, cooks wrapped simple flour-and-water pastes around meats to seal in juices; these crusts were not eaten. The word pie, though of obscure origin, was “evidently a well-known popular word in 1362,” says the Oxford English Dictionary. From then on, pies and tarts in one form or another are part of virtually every written record of food, through the Middle Ages and into more recent centuries. What’s remarkable is how similar even very early pie recipes are to the pies we bake today.