Meat Pies and Mrs. Darling

I have held a recent fascination with meat pies….mostly because they are delicious, but secondly they seem very English to me and I have a fascination with the United Kingdom. It isn’t just the castles, cathedrals, and the moors, but the authors as well. William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Frances Hodgson Burnett, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and J.K. Rowling, to name a few. Their writings have left an impressionable mark upon me. I can now add J,M. Barrie to this list.

Since our story starts off in London, and our dear author James is also English, I thought it would be fun to try out a new recipe. A meat pie is savory and filled with vegetables and meat, and is not to be confused with a mince meat pie, which is a pie filled with apples, raisins, sugar and suet. The “meat” in mince meat confused me, as I am sure it did not for you. I had to know, is there meat in a sweetened pie that holds apples, raisins, sugar and spices? So I looked it and up and it seems that the meat in mince meat comes from suet which is just a fancy word for fat, yes fat, albeit from the meat of an animal mostly cows and specifically from the area of the kidneys. Had I known all this from the beginning I probably would have tried my hand at Mince Meat Pie, but I didn’t, so instead I turned my attentions to a classic meat pie.

According to Parker British Institute meat pies trace back to the Neolithic Period. Long ago the crust itself was a means of preservation, not for eating. It kept the meat longer and sealed until needed. Eventually we did begin eating the crust. Egyptians would bake meat in a pastry shell of flour and oil. Europeans replaced oil with lard as it was easier to come by. Pilgrims from the Mayflower brought it over the North American Colonies. The crust kept the meat longer, especially during the winter months. Of course meat pies have branched out to the more popular sweet pies, of apple, blueberry, cherry and the like. Even with this long history I still find myself associating meat pies with England. I love a good meat pie, whether that be, chicken pot pie, cottage pie (or as we say in the US Sheperd’s Pie) or even a pork pie….is there a special name for a pork pie? As you can see I still have a lot to learn about meat pies; regardless here is a tweaked version of a meat pie.

Now you can bake a meat pie and eat a piece while you are reading Peter Pan. My girls and I read the second chapter yesterday. I hadn’t realized that Mrs. Darling was in the room the night Peter Pan arrived. I was surprised to know that she was the one who caught his shadow, folded it up and placed in the drawer. This chapter is all about back tracking. We find out Mrs. Darling catches Peter’s shadow and escape from the third floor bedroom window. We see her rushing downstairs to see no child fallen but the stars ever blinking at her…..and then the story in reverse comes about with the taking of the medicine and Mr. Darling’s mistreatment of Nana due to his zealous jealousy. Do you think Mr. Darling a terrible beast for such actions? It certainly wasn’t kind, however I cannot say the man is awful, since we all can become beastly at times when jealousy, nerves and frustrations arise. And he apologized profusely afterwards, as it seems the children have gone to Neverland and have not arrived back home. I did not know this part of the story. I thought Neverland was stuck in time and they would not any need to be missed. I am assuming the further I read, the further this will be explained.

This morning we finished up with the third chapter, when the children finally meet Tinker Bell and Peter Pan. I was pleased to see that Disney got most of it right in the beginning. We shall see if it continues so. Tinker Bell calling Peter Pan an “ass” was a surprise, as was Wendy kissing Peter on the cheek and calling it a thimble. Overall my girls got a lot less lost and enjoyed the third chapter more than the first two. I think the book is delightful so far. How are you enjoying it? Is Peter Pan as good as you thought it would be? Do you like meat pies? Who is your favorite English author?

For more information on the history of meat pies check out: https://parkersbritishinstitution.com/article/a-brief-history-of-the-great-british-pie