Food: Restaurant: Food Specialty
Random Pie Emporium   (+11, -7)  [vote for, against]
A cornucopia of fillings.. But which is which?

I envisage an olde worlde bakery, full of the smells of hot pies fresh from the oven. Serving girls in mop caps stand behind glass cabinets full of pies. But wait, what's this? there are no labels, it's random

"Good day fine wench, and what pray is in your pies this fine morning?"

"Ah, fine sir, I would that I knew, but pies in this establishment are randomly filled. They may be apple, or they may be beef and egg"

Imagine the fun
-- Gran Tade, Jan 17 2002

Cornish Pastie http://www.cornwall....uk/food/pastie.htm
No sweet fillings in this one [arora, Jan 17 2002]

Sweet and savoury haggis http://www.scotland...nuary_notes_one.cfm
for mcscotland [arora, Jan 17 2002]

Pasties http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pasties
[hippo, Feb 28 2006]

Pasties http://www.m-w.com/...ctionary?va=pasties
[hippo, Feb 28 2006]

Not much fun for a veggie!
-- arora, Jan 17 2002


No bliss, Pie Is Good. However this is sort of baked, isn't a genuine Cornish pastie somewhat like this? My understanding was that is has some random savoury filling and some random sweet filling in the same pastie. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-- mcscotland, Jan 17 2002


This would end up like the "grab bag" of retail fame. It's a gimmick for selling stuff nobody wants. Though it would be called "random pie," I would bet that 95% or better would be crap nobody would want if it were properly identified.

So, from the consumers' perspective, this is a bad thing. But from a retailer's view, this is good.
-- quarterbaker, Jan 17 2002


"...they may be soda cracker, they may be thumbtack. They may be sandstone, they may be void. They may be shredded-newspaper, they may be live-tadpole. They may be americium, they may be mandrake..."
-- Monkfish, Jan 17 2002


But they may be goats cheese and crannberry, Sword fish and cotton. Peanut and suede......
-- arora, Jan 17 2002


I could go for this idea but some pies would probably have to be grouped into collections like "meat", "fruit" and "exotic" for the less brave.

Rods Tiger: That was indeed an excellent Cornish pasty article.
-- Aristotle, Jan 18 2002


Baked (ha ha) - almost. I used to go to a Pie and Mash shop in Hackney which offered Meat Pie, Mashed Potatoes, Liquor (a sort of parsley sauce), Eels, Fruit Pie, Custard. So, if you were hungry you'd have Meat Pie, Mash and Liquor (or Eels, if you were daring)followed by Fruit Pie and Custard. The Meat Pie looked identical to the Fruit Pie - the only way to tell them apart was by what they were served with.
-- hippo, Jan 18 2002


I envisage an olde worlde bakery, full of the smells of hot pies fresh from the oven, while I eat a 3 day olde slice of pie.
-- thumbwax, Jan 18 2002


Cornish Pasties (Note to US readers: 'Pasties' has a different meaning in the UK) - I went on holiday to Cornwall last year. We'd often buy a box of assorted pasties from the baker and indeed, to the untutored eye they did all look the same - But if you looked carefully the pattern of fork marks and knife cuts was different for each type of pastie (a crib sheet showing which pattern was used for each filling was available from the baker).
-- hippo, Jan 18 2002


[hippo]: Those are tourist pasties. A proper pasty (disregarding the traditional savoury-and-sweet miners' pasties referenced in [Rods]'s link) is steak and veg only. No lamb, no chicken, no cheese. And the Cornish *never* call them 'Cornish pasties'. The Blue Anchor in Helston (to which I've referred previously) makes a pasty around 10" by 5", and 4" thick for £3.50. Try one if you're in the area.
-- angel, Jan 18 2002


Fair point [angel], but I was a tourist after all (we even went to the Eden Project - that's how much we were being tourists). I shall certainly look out for the Blue Anchor next time we're there.
-- hippo, Jan 18 2002


Baked. In my pre-veggie days I used to leave the office and nip across the road to buy a Safeways Individual Pork Pie for my lunch. I was never entirely sure what the contents would be on any given day. Nowadays it makes my stomach turn just to think of it.
-- DrBob, Jan 18 2002


'We even went to the Eden Project' I should hope you did. Amazing, innit? A lot of Cornish go there regularly, and I've been four times. Funny thing about Cornwall; although most of the 'attractions' are just cash-grabbers ('emmet-traps'), many of them are really worth a visit.
-- angel, Jan 18 2002


Could I have a pie filled with chocolate cake?
-- beauxeault, Jan 18 2002


Gracious, good doctor. No wonder you went veggie, eating crap like that.

Solution to pie quandry: I'll ask the guy in front of me what he got. Easy as pie.
-- waugsqueke, Jan 18 2002


I envisage this lasting no longer than it takes someone with a serious allergy to bite into something random, collapse and die as a result of anaphylactic shock. There are very good reasons for having labels.
-- sirrobin, Jan 20 2002


I think, there will be a disclaimer somewhere (In the basement, in an out of order lavatory, behind a sign saying "beware of the leopard",) which will read

Warning: In case you've missed the point, these pies are random, which means that we have no way of guaranteeing what you are going to be eating. Therefore if you have any kind of serious allergy, or are averse to the idea that your lunch may contain more or less anything (Amerecium, Mandrake, Tadpole (Thanks Monkfish, loved 'em), or even, lets be open here, dung) then go and buy a Sandwich in Marks and Spencer.. However, if you're feeling lucky or brave or mildly suicidal.. COME ON!
-- Gran Tade, Jan 20 2002


I don't see the need for any disclaimers or caveats, I mean, after all, won't the place have the name RANDOM in big, bold, shiny letters? Would the customers be so thick as to think they could order up whatever they WANT?? Anyone with allergies and even a lick of common sense would steer clear of this place. Ugh! It really makes my blood <whoop, whoop whoop rant alert, rant alert whoop whoop whoop>

What about pie-filled pies? (Or the "Chalk" Full of Cherries pie ad I saw on a handwritten sign in the bakery window. Really!)

I envisage an olde worlde bakery, full of the smells of hot pies fresh from the oven. You walk up to the counter and say "Good day, fine wench. I would like to buy a pie. Surprise me!" BAKED
-- Canuck, Jan 21 2002


...and then she leans across the counter and biffs you on the nose.
-- DrBob, Jan 21 2002


pies glorious pies!!
-- larker, Jan 25 2002


I see this annotation is pretty late since this idea is 3 years old but just incase anyone should care anymore, an original (cornish) pasty was made for miners.
One side of it would be filled with the savoury filling (beef, turnips etc) and the other side would be sweet, eg, apple. The pastry wasnt actually made for eating, it was made to keep the fillings safe from the dust in the mines and all over their hands, the miners would open them up and eat the filling, discarding the pastry.
Just thought you might all like to know...
Also hippo I'd like to know exactly what the american meaning for 'pasties' is.
-- fridge duck, Apr 09 2005


yes, i can imagine the fun when you say 'good day fine wench' to any lady working in a shop.
-- benfrost, Apr 10 2005


[arora], the phrase "peanut and suede" still makes me giggle whenever I think about it. I don't know why.
-- Tabbyclaw, Feb 28 2006


[fridge duck] see link
-- hippo, Feb 28 2006


Tasty, tasty pasties...
-- Jinbish, Feb 28 2006



random, halfbakery