We call them pastei. Although the recipes that are common here are different from the Angelsaxon dishes, the principle is the same.
I never understood why people were so crazy about pies on the islands, until I ate one over there. They are delicious. This is where I ate my first: Sweeney and Todd, Reading.
The last one was a shepherd’s pie a few months ago at Wilde, Chicago.
Shepherd's pie / cottage pie / mariner's pie is a strange one as it tends to break the rules. I've never seen it in a pastry base nor have I seen it with a pastry lid. The topping is usually mashed potato lightly grilled. It is often made in a pie dish however.
The likes of steak pie / meat and potato pie on the other hand is usually fully enclosed in pastry and thus true to form.
They used to have 'pie nights' at the local pub and I suspect it created a lot of pie / not pie type arguments.
