[Sca-cooks] Pie Shapers

[Terry Decker]

You need to look at the dates ascribed to the pies.  A number of the 18th 
Century and later pies have all the appearances of being prepared in 
something like a spring form mold.  While some of the 17th Century pies look 
like they might have been molded, the depth of the relief in the decorations 
suggests to me that they have been decorated with carved pieces of dough 
(which may have been molded or prepared with a cutter) rather than being 
molded directly on the shell.  The 15th Century bakemete is almost certainly 
dagged by hand.

The truly interesting piece is the preparation of Markham's recipe for 
herring in a fish shape.  The dish has been prepared and baked in a shaped 
and carved baking pan (trappe).  It is definitely a molded pie and very 
likely an Elizabethean practice.

It's late and I've only taken a cursory glance, but I've seen a couple of 
things that intrigue me.

Bear

> Now you see the one in the second site has crowns on the side with a vent 
> on
> top bottom of the picture. That one is the one which set me to thinking of
> wood cut mold. If you take a close look you can see a joints at the edge
> where the plates meet. Not meaning to disagree or anything  just it was 
> the
> first thing that came to mind when I saw it. Been bugging me ever since, I
> can find nothing to give it credence , one way or another, just won`t go
> away.
> Cealian