Cakes, Pies, and Clafty Pudding

As I mentioned earlier, the culinary ancestor of the pie was a noodle or dough envelope stuffed with various fillings, the Mauldasche in Pennsylvania Dutch cookery. The oldest German word for a flat, round piece of dough is Kuchen (“KOO-ken”), written in Pennsylfaanisch as Kuche (“KOO-keh”). In Alsatian German this is pronounced “KEE-sheh,” from which the French created the word quiche. In any other American cookbook, my recipes for Chickweed Pie and Onion Pie would be called quiches, even though they do not have a French origin.