Pudding Or Pie.

[ordbrae]

Can anyone tell me the difference between a pudding and a pie.

[mccfluff]

a pie has a pastry lid (and bottom). a pudding doesn't

(i think)

[friedgreentomato]

pudding tends to be made with suet pastry and steamed and a pie tends to be made with puff or shortcrust and baked.

[EcclesCake]

Pudding is batter based, using egg, flour, fluid and fat with fruit or not and then steamed or baked; e.g. suet pudding, syrup pudding, christmas pudding etc.

A pie involves pastry and baked.

[EcclesCake]

Unless of course it is a suet pudding and then it is a suet pastry that is steamed.....

Clear now? ;-)

[dickythecook]

A pudding is usually a sponge based confection. hence the pudding bowl. It is a steamed product.
Pies are baked in the oven.

[EcclesCake]

Sorry, I've really muddled my reply! Hopefully the varied replies reveal the various options for a response....

I might go and have a look to see of Escoffier has an answer.....

[stewey]

How about Shepard's pie, and Yorkshire pudding?

[EcclesCake]

Good question Stewey....

Shepherds/Cottage pie have a potato topping in lieu of pastry and are baked.

Yorkshire pudding is a batter pudding and err, baked......

To add to the confusion Larousse, agrees that 'pudding' is used in a variety of ways to describe a range of different outputs. The most consistent (but not always) is the use of a mould!

Pie is slightly more consistent insofar it is pastry and baked...whether it is a pastry lid, pastry base or both is open to discussion!

Clear? ;-)

[stewey]

Who knows, Eccles, what the "true" answer is? We shall probably find that the proof is in the pudding.

[EcclesCake]

I suspect that is the only truism in the whole debate!

[Nibble]

^ what Helen said

[ordbrae]

Eccles has the best answer which,in an abstract sort of way,covers all the options.I am thinking of white and black puddings encased in a membrane of animal origin or synthetic.

[heathfield]

I hate those 'steak pies' which are just a stew with a piece of puff pastry placed on top. Soon after they started to appear, I asked a Trading Standards Officer how they could be called a pie. He felt the same way as I did, but said that they could do nothing about it, since for what constitutes a pie has never been legally defined.
It seems the reason that bars and restaurants prefer to serve up these so-called 'pies' is that a stew is allowed to be re-frozen, but if it's encased in pastry in the form of a traditional pie, re-freezing is not permitted.

[owdhamer]

Whats the difference between a Buffalo and a bison? you cant wash your hands in a buffalo

[ordbrae]

I don't think there is a difinitive answer but I think Heathfield has made the best attempt.