Design

"Form follows function."  If you need a teapot for decoration purposes then it can be as delicate and lovely as you desire.  If you need a teapot that you can take with you traveling across the country or going hiking then you'd want something strong and sturdy.  The desired function decides the form.  This is as true for pies as it is for teapots.

Around the 14th Century and earlier one of the main functions of pies was that of preservation.  For this reason pies were made in a certain form.  Pies would be made sturdy so that they would not just break in the oven or sitting on a shelf.  Before being baked the pie would be given several slits on the top crust to allow moisture to escape.  After being baked these slits would be sealed with oven melted fat to protect the contents from the air.  However, before the pie was completely sealed on top one small hole would be left.  Whoever was in charge of the pie would then blow into this hole causing the lid of the pie to swell up before sealing that final hole.  By raising the lid of the pie with air that portion of the crust would be safe from touching any liquid in the filling that might cause it to deteriorate.  By using this process pies were preserved quite successfully for months, or even a year.

Another function of pies was that of transportation.  It was not uncommon for a mother to wish to send a nice Christmas pie to her son when he was off studying at the university or away from home for some other reason.  These pies would be specially crafted with extremely thick crusts that could withstand the journey.  In general these pies did survive the journey and were often sent as gifts to friends an relatives who lived afar.

After the 14th Century when pastry had showed up and pie crusts were edible pies became a sort of art within some circles.  The nobility would often have their chef create a pie valued just as much for its appearance as its taste as a way to show off to their guests.  As pis became a form of culinary art it became common for meat pies to be made into the shapes of castles, with each turret containing a different filling.  Sometimes pies would actually be made into the shape of a fish or some other animal.  Another common practice was to remove the lid of the pie and replace it with one that had been baked separately that was made to look like that family's coat of arms.  There were even little pies know as "stump pies" because they were so detailed that it reminded many of the intricate embroidery know as "stump work."  As the art behind pies grew in importance many methods of adding color to pies were attempted.  Some common ones were to frost the lid, paint the lid (though that was often done with chemicals such as copper acetate, lead oxide, and metallic mercury), or gild the lid with saffron, egg yolk, or even thinly pounded gold.

As can be seen by the art done with pies, what type of pie you set before your guests often showed your spot in society.  The very rich could afford artistic pies filled with game and made with fine wheat flour.  The poor had to make their crusts with barley or rye and fill them with mutton (sheep too old to be of any use, and too tough for the master to wish to eat them).

Time and time again pies proved themselves more than capable of changing to fit whichever function was needed at the time.  Centuries ago pies were needed to preserve food, and so that is what they did.  In modern times pies are needed as a dessert to be served at Christmas or Thanksgiving and it fulfills that function just as well.  It is amazing to see how the form of pies can change as the needed functions change.