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ask pie-man

Dear pie-man,

With the recent introduction of 'exotic' pies into this country, do you fear for the future of the more traditional variety? I recently purchased a 'Red Thai Chicken' pie and it was very nice. Are we seeing a pie revolution?

Jon from Sussex

Hello, Jon.

This is a very relevant concern, and something that has been much on our minds of late here at pie-man towers. And yes, our first reaction was fear for the wondrous pies we know and love - would they be endangered by the new arrivals, much like red squirrels in the face of grey ones or morris dancing when confronted by the Lambada? (Incidentally we know a cracking recipe for squirrel pie, published by the British government in 1946. Maybe it's time for a revival. We could make it grey-squirrel-only, thus doing our bit for wildlife whilst also creating tasty pies. We'd be killing two birds with one stone. Or killing two grey squirrels and baking them in pastry, to be technically accurate.)

Aaaanyway, on reflection we decided in the end that new pie ideas were, after all, no threat to traditional varieties. The first reason for this was the chicken curry pie we got from our local butcher - the review on the site says it all. This pie was clearly no threat at all to a decent steak and ale. There are countless similar abberations in supermarkets with labels like "chicken tikka masala pasty" or "spinach, goat's cheese and squirrel bake", and few of them would last five minutes in the ring with a quality traditional pie.

But, more importantly, we reckon one man's fear of the new is another man's pie xenophobia. Having tried such marvels as the smoked haddock with turmeric, potatoes and spinach pie made by pie (Pure Individual Excellence), we found ourselves reassured. It even took our mind off squirrels for a while.

Traditional piemaking is going to cope with new ingredients just fine so long as it's done by the the right people - the new flavours will meld with the old and exciting new things will emerge. After all, the traditional pie in Malta contains, slightly implausibly, pasta, meat, a tomato-based pasta sauce, beans and cheese, all baked together in pastry. Of course it's godawful, but the Maltese would probably say the same thing if you handed them a Cornish pasty. "Where's the pasta?" they would cry.

Keep the faith, Jon. Pastry is the future.