The Classic Aussie Meat Pie.
If you ask for a pie in Australia with no other adjectives what you are going to get is a beef pie. They are by far the most common fast food in Australia, sold in every petrol station and corner shop. Naturally pies from small bakeries are often much nicer than the mass produced pies from large manufacturers but there’s a few caveats with that. There’s a few simple rules about how a pie should be.
Number 1, first and foremost – pies are Street Food. They are meant to be eaten from one hand while doing other things such as walking down a shopping street or watching a football match. Seeing someone use a knife and fork to eat a pie is just wrong.
Pies are served Hot, and I mean Hot. That’s law in Australia, part of our health and safety legislation. If food is meant to be hot then it must be kept at temperatures above 85 degrees by law. If someone sells luke warm pies you can complain and have them shut down. 85 degrees is hot enough to instantly blister adult skin so you do need to be a little bit careful when eating one.
The top of a pie needs to be firmly attached to the bottom, otherwise when you take a bite scalding hot beef and gravy is going to shoot out of the sides and burn your hand. Also never buy a pie that is sitting in a little foil tray, for much the same reason. If it’s in a foil tray then the bottom of the pie will be soggy and likely to fall apart when you try to eat it. If you have to use a knife and fork then it’s not a pie.
Pie fillings are usually beef. Almost exclusively beef but occasionally you’ll see a chicken and vegetable pie. I’ve seen a few youtube videos about “Australian” pies being sold in the US and that made me curious, apparently the most popular there is a lamb pie. I have never in my life seen a lamb pie, wouldn’t mind trying one though. Pies are usually around Au$6, good value.
I hate sauce on a pie but that marks me out as a bit weird in my own country. Most Aussies will plaster everything with Tomato Sauce regardless of what they’re eating or where they are. Tomato Sauce is not ketchup although it looks the same and has a similar texture. It’s almost the same recipe too, except for much less sugar. It’s a savoury sauce that tastes like tomatoes, by comparison ketchup tastes like jam to us. Also note the green stamp on the label that declares “No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.”, that’s a very important selling point to most Aussies.
A layer of wax can be the difference between winning and failing. So many different types of wax for different temperatures and different types of snow. Years ago my livingroom was a waxing station during winter, the floor was slippery because of wax.
It's custom made to wax skis, state of the art inside, two storeys jammed full of waxing equipment. It cost millions.
And a little further up the track he stopped to give someone a high five. That's some serious winning. When it comes to skiing, we're obnoxiously good.
