Pies and Prejudice Trivia Quiz

Pumpkin pie did not start out looking anything like the version people recognize now. Early American settlers, borrowing from Native American practices, sometimes hollowed out pumpkins, filled them with milk, honey, and spices, and baked them directly in hot ashes. Over time, that rough method evolved into the familiar custard-style pie.

Key lime pie came out of the Florida Keys, where the availability of fresh milk shaped the recipe as much as taste. Condensed milk became essential when fresh milk couldn't be used, and paired with the Keys' small, intensely tart key limes, a new American pie was born.

The chemistry does a lot of the work here. The acidity of the lime juice thickens the filling without much effort, giving the pie its smooth texture and tartness. A topping of whipped cream or meringue usually follows, mostly to take the edge off that sourness.

Banoffee pie is a relatively recent invention, but it does not really feel like one. Created in 1970s England at the Hungry Monk restaurant, it combines bananas and toffee in a way that seems obvious in hindsight.

What makes it stand out is the toffee layer, typically made by caramelizing condensed milk until it turns thick. The pie is then topped with whipped cream (and sometimes more bananas), and garnished with chocolate shavings or cocoa powder.

Shepherd's pie began as "cottage pie" and only took on its current name when lamb became standard. The filling typically includes minced lamb or beef, along with onions, carrots, and peas, all cooked together with stock and herbs like thyme or rosemary.

Mashed potatoes are spread across the top and baked until they brown. The ingredients are simple, but the layering, meat and vegetables below, potatoes above, is what gives the dish its structure.

In Yorkshire, where rhubarb grows well in cool, damp conditions, the plant's tart flavor became the basis for a straightforward pie. The filling combines chopped rhubarb with a substantial amount of sugar, with additions like orange zest or cinnamon. Because rhubarb is so tart, the balance between sugar and fruit matters more than technique.

Modern chicken pot pies, which you might conveniently find in the supermarket freezer aisle, evolved from earlier European meat pies. These shifted toward a softer, cream-based filling in North America. Typical ingredients include cooked chicken, carrots, peas, and potatoes, all mixed into a sauce made from broth and milk. Encased in pastry, the filling bakes into a thick, creamy interior while the crust turns crisp.

Pecan pie relies on a short but specific list of ingredients: pecan halves, corn syrup, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. It developed in the American South, where pecans were widely available and often paired with European-style pastry. As the pie bakes, the pecans rise and form a toasted layer on top, while the syrup mixture sets into a dense, almost custard-like base.

Lemon meringue pie is built from two distinct parts. The filling, made from lemon juice, zest, sugar, and cornstarch, is cooked until thick, while the topping consists of egg whites whipped with sugar into a stable foam. Once spread over the hot filling and baked, the meringue sets and lightly browns.

Stargazy pie comes from Cornwall and is tied to a local story about a fisherman named Tom Bawcock. The ingredients themselves are fairly standard for a coastal dish: small fish such as pilchards or sardines, along with potatoes, onions, and sometimes bacon.

What sets it apart is how the fish are arranged. Their heads are left intact and positioned so they stick through the crust, pointing upward. The rest of the filling cooks beneath the pastry, but the presentation is what people remember.

Because molasses was widely available in Pennsylvania Dutch communities, shoofly pie centers on a filling made by mixing molasses with hot water and baking soda. Some versions add a crumb topping that includes brown sugar. The name comes from the tendency of the sweet filling to attract flies, which had to be shooed away.

Mince pie originally included minced meat along with dried fruits, spices, and suet. Ingredients like raisins, currants, apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves eventually became commonplace, influenced by imported spices from overseas trade routes. Modern versions usually drop the meat but keep the fruit and spice mixture.

Apple pie, though closely associated with the United States, developed from earlier European recipes. It typically uses tart apples such as Granny Smith or McIntosh, combined with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sometimes lemon juice. The filling softens as it bakes while the crust becomes crisp. You'll find the top of apple pies variously decorated with a full top crust, a lattice pattern, or cut-out shapes arranged across the surface.