Finally, a national celebration we can all get behind! Here’s our top ten favourite pies from around the world. Pie purists may scoff (hehe) at our inclusion of what they consider pasty derivatives rather than pies but we decided to broaden the field to ensure delicious diversity

 

Sfeeha

A Lebanese meat pie that’s bursting with so many flavours it can’t be contained by a pastry top! Try this recipe for a taste of this aromatic wonder – featuring tahini, cinnamon and pomegranate molasses. That last ingredient was a new one on us.

 

Russian Coulibiac

Traditionally made with fish – salmon to be specific – we like this vegetarian take on the Russian classic. Layers of egg, rice, mushrooms along with cabbage and garlic are set off by the addition of juniper berries and sage and THEN wrapped in a delicious crispy puff pastry. You will disgust yourself at how much of this baby you can tuck away in a sitting.

 

Australian Meat Pie

No nonsense here! The traditional Aussie pie is made with just minced beef and onion – with the lavish addition of ketchup and Worcester sauce to spice things up a bit. Flashy? No, but it gets the job done and will keep you going when you’re out(back) and about.

 

Spanakopita

If you’re struggling with the pronunciation just think of it as a spinach pie. Then imagine biting through the luxurious layers of filo pastry to taste salty feta mixed with sweet onion and hearty, iron rich spinach. The recipe we’ve chosen uses three different kinds of onion to keep your tastebuds on their toes.

Jamaican patties

These are HOT. Really hot. The addition of Scotch bonnet peppers – ubiquitous in Jamaican cuisine – ensures that this is a pie that should always be served with a cooling drink. Perhaps a nice cold rum-based cocktail? But as this recipe shows there’s more too them than the heat, which is tempered by lingering and complex aromatic flavours.

Buko

Nope, we’d never heard of it either. This Filipino delicacy is a kind of custard tart flavoured with coconut – but not just any coconut. Soledad Pahud, the pie’s creator, wanted to recreate the American apple pie she had tasted when living in the states. With no apples available to her however, the ingenious Ms Pahud instead used “buko” – young coconuts – which make this a distinctly delectable dessert.

Raised Pork Pies

These little lovelies made the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray a household name – not to mention a worldwide brand. Only pies made within the area and using the specific recipe of uncured pork can claim the Mowbray name. To avoid any legal issues around copyright infringement however, here’s a recipe from Delia Smith for “Old-fashioned Raised Pork Pies”. Whatever you call them, we think they’re pretty amazing.

Empanadas and the Cornish Pasty

Now, before there’s any complaints, we know these are entirely different beasts. The empanada – represented above in a chicken and chorizo recipe from Paul “Silver Fox” Hollywood – is a spiced pastry which can be found in a plethora of forms throughout the Latin world. The Cornish pasty on the other hand is a lightly seasoned meat and veg affair that – like the Melton Mowbray – has become a closely guarded brand (That’s probably why this recipe from the Hairy Bikers calls it the “people’s Cornish pasty”). Furthermore, whilst Cornish pasties call for the ingredients to be cooked from raw inside the pastry, empanadas are made up form ready cooked ingredients. So, to reiterate – empanadas and Cornish pasties are not the same thing. They’re very different have entirely independent origins- don’t go judging a book by its cover.

However…

The Mexican “paste” – which is found almost exclusively in the state of Hidalgo – does link the Cornish tradition to South America. Cornish miners who were contracted to work in the towns of Mineral del Monte and Pachuca in the 19th century, shared their expertise with the locals, resulting in the paste – the spicier cousin to the traditional Cornish pasty, with ingredients cooked from raw inside flaky pastry.

Bisteeya

 

Moroccan food consistently surprises the palate from one mouthful to another – which is a challenge for a pie. However, the bisteeya lives up to the cuisine’s inventive interplay of sweet and savoury – with chicken flavoured by saffron and garlic mixing with sugary sweetness from almonds, all cut through with cinnamon and chilli. Trust us – give this recipe a try.

Cottage pie

There are obviously loads of other pies from around the world but we thought we had to mention this potato topped pie to show variety. It’s pretty straightforward – essentially a minced meat stew topped with the mash which would normally serve as its accompaniment – but the pleasure derived from the sight and smell of a crisp, Cheddar cheese-topped cottage pie fresh from the oven, with the rich gravy bubbling over and bursting through the gap between potato and dish is basically the same as holding your new-born first child. If pies like this aren’t the answer to life, the universe and everything then we don’t know what is.

There you go – our top ten which we think reminds us that all we really need is pies, love and understanding.

Let us know your favourite pies from around the world in the comments below.