Australia has an annual event called The Great Australian Pie Competition. Started in 1990, it attracts pie makers Australia-wide and has several different categories of pies, including gourmet pies, which include fillings like chicken, vegetarian, and seafood.
Main Menu
- Home
- Anzac Biscuits
- Chiko Roll
- Chocolate Crackles
- Damper
- Fairy Bread
- Frog Cake
- Harry's Cafe de Wheels
- Lamingtons
- Neenish Tart
- Pavlova
- Pies
- Pie Floater
- Piklets
- Vegemite
Recipes
The humble meat pie is important to Australian culture. We are the world's biggest consumer of meat pies per capita with over 250 million eaten each year. Originally brought to Australia by the early settlers, pies gained quick acceptance due to their basic and economical use of readily available ingredients.
The first recorded mention of pies was in 1850 in the Melbourne Argus which said that the councillors would rather have meat pies from the pub opposite than the food provided in civic chambers. Mutton was used in Australia's first pies, and by the mid 1800s pies were often sold as lunches in hotels.
The pastry is usually shortcrust (heavy enough so it doesn't fall apart in your hands), and the filling is meat, usually, beef or chicken with enough gravy inside to stick it all together. Meat pies are found in take away shops, bakeries and almost everywhere that sells food. The traditional Aussie meat pie is about 15cm in diameter. It is small enough to hold in the hand, and it is usually covered in tomato sauce.
There are many pie-makers with nation-wide distribution. Today's meat pies come as a basic beef meat pie and a variety of styles: steak and onion, steak and kidney, curried beef, beef and tomato and onion, beef and vegetables, bacon and egg, potato, chicken, seafood and vegetarian varieties.
