Scotch Pie | Traditional Scottish Cuisine | World Food Story (2024)
Scotch Pie is a traditional Scottish double-crusted pie, usually filled with various spices and minced mutton. It can be also known as mutton pie, shell pie or even football pie.
Football pie got its nickname because it was being sold as a kind of fast food at football stadiums. Due to its hard crust, it is a very practical food, that can be eaten with only one hand. Sometimes it is called Scottish hot sandwich. Also, it could be used as a missile if the spectators were not happy with the match.
Scotch Pie is a small round pie, usually 7-8 cm in diameter and 4 cm high. The top is covered with a crust cover under the rim so that it is possible to add different toppings such as baked beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, eggs etc.
Traditionally, it was stuffed with mutton, while today it can be found with minced lamb or beef. Mutton has throughout history been very accessible and cheap, so with a good mix of spices this dish seemed very popular.
Although there is no written evidence, it is considered that Scotch Pie originated from Scotland and has existed for over 500 years. There is a legend that during the Middle Ages pie was despised by the Scottish church. It was considered to be a sumptuous meal, very similar to English pies.
The Industrial Revolution influenced the growth of the pie’s popularity when the workers in the cities sought a suitable, sustainable and inexpensive dish.
Today there are countless variations of the pie, and each one of them has its own recipe, which is sometimes kept a top-secret, especially within bakeries.
Today Scotch pie can be found in both bakeries and take-aways and also on the menu in some restaurants.
Very similar dishes can be found in England as well as in Canada.
There is even a World Championship Scotch Pie Awards. In fact, since 1999, a trade organization called Scottish Bakers, have organised this contest. The winner of the contest takes the flattering award of World Champion.
A Scotch pie is a small, double-crust meat pie, traditionally filled with minced mutton (whereby also called a mutton pie) but now generally beef, sometimes lamb.
is a traditional Scottish double-crusted pie, usually filled with various spices and minced mutton. It can be also known as mutton pie, shell pie or even football pie. Football pie got its nickname because it was being sold as a kind of fast food at football stadiums.
The precise ancestry of the Scotch pie remains unclear. During the Victorian period many forms of pie abounded. In hard times a pie had the double advantage of making a little filling go a long way, while obscuring the precise nature of its proteinaceous content.
A mince pie is a sweet pie made with dried fruits and spices and, usually, encased in either a rich shortcrust or flaky pastry case. A Scotch Pie is a savoury pie made with, usually, minced mutton and spices and put in a hot water crust pastry shell.
This type of pastry is durable and was ideally suited for the pie to be eaten by hand without the contents spilling, making it a practical option for workers' lunches or as a takeaway meal at markets and fairs.
Historians trace the origin of pie to the Egyptians back in 9500 BCE. In Egypt, the first pies were made with ground grains like barley, wheat, or oats combined with water. This “dough” was shaped into an oval and filled with savory ingredients like nuts, honey, and meat.
The Ancient Egyptians created the first example of what we know as pies today. Later on, closer to the 5th Century BC, the Ancient Greeks were believed to invent pie pastry as it is mentioned in the plays of the writer Aristophanes and it was possible to work as a pastry chef in this era, a separate trade to a baker.
After over 50 years in the trade in his Newtyle shop in Perthshire Owner Alan Pirie decided to hang up his Apron. In that time Pirie Butchers won many top product awards but recently pulled off the unthinkable winning the World Scotch Pie championship for an incredible 5th time .
Often the most prominent spice is the underrated whiff and tang of white pepper but mace and nutmeg are sometimes used. The hot water pastry crust made with beef dripping or lard is definitely mandatory. The pie mustn't be consumed at a mealtime.
Quite when the people of Scotland started eating Steak Pie for New Year day dinner, isn't entirely known, though one of the most popular theories is that it's due to the fact that people were far too busy to make a big meal on New Years day as they still had to work, and going to the butcher for a Steak pie was easy to ...
It's believed whisky-making began in Scotland as winemaking methods spread from monasteries in Europe; with no access to grapes, monks used grain mash instead to produce an early form of the popular spirit. The name itself derives from the Gaelic name, uisge beatha, which translates loosely to 'water of life'.
A BUTCHERS' Scotch pie has been crowned the best in the world for the fifth year running. James Pirie & Son of Blairgowrie, who won the competition in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022, have bagged the coveted accolade once again.
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