Pastry on top? Pastry on the bottom? No pastry at all? Lid? No lid? Pizza?

What the hell is a pie? ...and no dictionary definitions, tell me what you think a pie is.

To me a pie has to have a bottom and sides. I don't mind a pie with a puff pastry 'lid' but to me it's not a proper pie.

To me a pie has to be encased in pastry

If there's no pastry on top then it's a flan or quiche

Fish pie?

I'd say lid = pie, no lid = flan, quiche or tart

Though as Gomezz says, a fish pie with potato on top also called a pie

Maybe the potato is the lid

From Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie

That apple pie looks lovely

Shepherd's Pie is a lie... Shepherd's Lie

A pie has to have something on top, usually pastry or mashed potato.

It also has to be in a dish. A freestanding encased affair is a pastie.

Lemon meringue pie is not a pie imo. It's a flan.

Who cares? As long as it tastes nice.

What about pork pies? They don't come in a dish, and like a pastie are 'freestanding encased affairs'.

Apparently you can now get naked pork pies! Which is an outrage against both the food item and the meaning of pie.

Surely a naked pork pie is just a pig.

I've recently been having Bell's Scotch Pies for lunch.......they're yummy !

A pie has got a lid.
If it hasn't got a lid, it's a flan or a quiche or a tart

Potato lid? Meringue lid? Pastry lid? Tin lid? Pan lid? Eye lid? Dustbin lid?

I can't agree with this. A pasty is wrapped and doesn't have sides, a square of pastry with the filling put on top and then folded over to cover the filling.

A pie has a lid and can be either in a dish or freestanding.

That lid can be pastry, potato, meringue etc.

Not having that, a proper pie should have a pastry lid... anything else is a pie impersonator, and not even a good one, a Jon Culshaw!

Thinking a little more about this, a pie doesn't really have to have sides either. An apple pie or family sized steak pie made in a pie dish has a top and bottom but not really any sides.

I'm not really sure that a shepherds pie or cottage pie can really be called a pie either, even though the word 'pie' is included in the name. They are both basically minced meat with gravy, onions and sometimes carrots and a mashed potato topping. Not a pie in my book.

My book says that a pie should have sides and a bottom, made of pastry... and a lid made out of a separate piece of pastry.

Lemon meringue is a tart.
Shepherd's pie is a lie, it's just tasty slop.

Pies come in many guises in our home, some with pastry some with potato topping only rule here for a pie is it must have a topping of some sort. Without a topping it's a bake or a tart. But if it tastes good can't say I really mind if it's pastry or topped or even if it has a bottom..

^^^^ This

A pie is soft pastry fill with large chunks of food ie mushrooms or potatoes, and it should be full to the brim.. if not it is not a pie.. but a cheap imitation of one..

A pork pie does not have soft pastry and a mince beef and onion with gravy pie does not have large chunks of food. They are both still pies.

Melton Mowbray pork pies are lovely.

If it's a pie with pastry it must have pastry all around not just the top

What, then, is the difference between apple pie and apple tart?