Food That Time Forgot: Onion Pie

Onion Pie is a strange food to us today. It was a staple food for folks in the 18th Century. Food That Time Forgot is about looking at food that used to be popular and wondering why it fell off the map. Eggs, apples, onions, and potatoes in a pie crust. What do you think?
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[@townsends]

Add a touch of 18th century flavor to pretty much any dish www.townsends.us/products/kitchen-pepper

[@darkjanggo]

*_NUTMEG SPOTTED_*

[@CorrieBergeron]

Sounds like medieval poudre forte plus salt.

[@darcieclements4880]

Reminds me of a paste, just sub apple for tarragon.

[@Nightowl_IT]

Can you make an onion pie without eggs? Maybe mushrooms or a gratin?

[@gb123-ej8wh]

This onion pie sounds good

[@abracadaverous]

I've always found that apples, onions, and potatoes go really well together. Think latkes with applesauce.

[@isaactrockman4417]

an old favorite

[@DeathSensei]

Japanese curry (usuallu potato, onion, carrot, and meat) sometimes adds apple too. It's really popular in aomori prefecture which is known for their apples

[@pmberkeley]

Good point! Latkes also have eggs in them.

[@JuvenileStacks]

​@@DeathSenseiapple in a japanese curry is SO good 😩

[@BaronVonYolo]

Classical German regional dish: roasted liver with onions and apple. Fits perfectly.

[@2013Arcturus]

"It's hard to imagine a Dinner was just cheese, liquid and bread" Me: 😅👀

[@petterlang]

Pizza?

[@ActualHumanPerson]

Cheese sandwich and a glass of tap

[@2013Arcturus]

@@petterlang I'm literally talking about eating a block of cheese and a hunk of bread and tap water lmao

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

@@2013ArcturusI have cheese (usually just cheddar) & crackers for dinner probably 2-4 times a month. I’ll usually add some hummus & any leftover chicken I have. I actually look forward to those nights.

[@Supermunch2000]

A crustywarm loaf, hung of hard cheese and beer... Man, that would be paradise.

[@Rando-user-zm1fx]

The expression when you tried it is all the proof anyone needs

[@loganl3746]

Just seeing the ingredients at the beginning remind me of latkes with apples 😋

[@papaguche]

Well im exited to try making it in the fall when my garden is ready

[@warrenklaus-tm1oo]

I could see a little cream sauce and some diced ham really filling this out

[@hannahcollins1816]

I need you to calm me down every time I make pie dough 😅

[@bobby_greene]

Where did the idea to use boiled eggs come from? By the way the recipe was presented i would have used raw and let them cook in the pie to bring it all together

[@RangerMan-yv7rl]

Boiled eggs in pie is nice

[@too_legit_to_be_fit]

🎵its a wonderful day for pie🎵

[@AzAbuvSoBelow]

Its a wonderful day for pie 🎶

[@3halfshadows]

Russian salad has similar combination of ingredients: eggs, onion, apple, and potatoes plus some other stuff(carrots, pickles, mayo, mustard) diced up.

[@VPCh.]

I've noticed that the local geology plays a big factor into how they use onions. Onions are much stronger and pungent if the soil is sulfur rich. Regions that are rich in sulfur treat them as a strong flavoring compound that can be used more like a spice. Sulfur poor areas treat it more like an apple, using it like a sweetener in dishes. As an example, the Vidalia sweet onion can be practically eaten raw like an apple since it is so sweet and mild, but if you grew it anywhere other than the low sulfur basins in Georgia, it would taste like a regular onion.

[@axhed]

apparently the sting in your eye when cutting onions is just sulfuric acid.

[@illogicalbear6200]

Yup! I've grown tons of onions. Its not just sulfur content that has an effect, even what you had planted in that ground 5 years ago can have an effect. One year, i grew Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers, and tilled the plant remains into the soil. I planted onions over it. They were extra pungent and were spicy. Best onions i ever ate.

[@youraftermyrobotbee]

​@@illogicalbear6200 Spicy onions? Game changer...

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

​@@axhedmore specifically syn-Propanethial-S-oxide

[@troynov1965]

One of the best things about summer is being able to buy Vidalia onions.

[@margaretbarclay-laughton2086]

When my parents got married in 1934 in the village mum came from women would still make a steak pie and take it to the bakers in the morning, when the baker had finished with their oven for the day they would put things that had been brought in into the oven to make use of the residual heat it meant that folks who worked in the Mills or mines could come home to a hot meal.

[@birchlover3377]

That's beautiful.

[@senzenotl]

So you're like 100? :0

[@2Hearts3]

Very interesting! Where was that?

[@celticfiddle7605]

Cool story of bygone days

[@makavelismith]

@@senzenotl So you're like 14 OMGUH

[@vahneb7260]

Onion pie is still made several times a year at our home. It was my grandmother’s favorite so we still make it on holidays and in the summer when we have an over abundance of veggies from the garden.

[@Ottawa411]

I am a fanatic for onions. I would love to try this dish.

[@videoinformer]

Amazing how even "food that time forgot" is sometimes remembered within a family's tradition of cooking for many generations beyond when it was commonly and widely known. I'm sure you are not alone, but it's so good the way Townsend's reintroduces dishes like this to a wide audience who can find out what we've been missing.

[@Blacksquareable]

Aha! You too? Did it have another name by any chance, like chigley pie or something like that?

[@vahneb7260]

@@Blacksquareable my grandma was from Italy she called it torta di copolle.

[@andta7889]

Bread pie

[@DonnaMSchmid]

Bakers also served the job of "renting out" their ovens even in modern times! During the 30s and 40s, many home ovens were very small compared with today's ovens, so larger items wouldn't fit. My grandparents had a bakery in Philadelphia, and for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they baked hundreds of roasters of turkey, ham, and roast beefs for a small fee. People would bring in their roasters already prepared the way they wanted it, which would be tagged and the customer would say when they wanted to pick it up! Grandmom and Grandpop would then roast everything according to the proper schedule.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

Our local baker did that, too. Church groups that had Harvest Suppers would bring hams and turkeys in for baking.

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

I’m going to stark asking my local bakery if they would roast my next turkey this way! Delicious. And I’d probably end up buying four loaves of bread, too.

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

Ahh the time of community spirit right before the doors slammed in your face and people you lived next to for thirty years suddenly pretend you're not real.

[@poleve5409]

​@@Jackielong-sighted7890there's no purpose behind your community spirit

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

@@poleve5409 No purpose beyond knowing who you can definitely trust and not trust? of knowing individuals from all walks of life who you can help each other when the need comes up, beyond having your own specialised community market place where you do great rates for community members alone, that you're essentially a platform of people stronger together in defending your rights against government. I mean if humanity has left you jaded and cynical that seems unfortunate however there's a reason we've evolved to share strength to become stronger in doing so because what does loneliness leave a community? Just apathy and a withering into dust and that's not okay.

[@chabis]

In Switzerland we just don't close the pie. Our version of onion pie is still a very common dish you can also get at take-aways, in supermarkets and in bakeries. Hot or cold.

[@m420-nd1if]

Zwiebelwähe

[@chabis]

@@m420-nd1if Bölletünne

[@TheBottegaChannel]

I've eaten potato pancakes with shreaded caramelized onion and apple sauce, so it's no surprise all those flavors go together. ❤

[@SilvaDreams]

Well you also have to remember that apples back then weren't nearly as sweet as they are now. The common apple back then was about what we would consider a tart or baking apple.

[@lorassorkin]

Yes, I was thinking of latkes: potatoes and onions fried together with applesauce on the side. Very different textures, and sweetened apples, but I can image it. It's the boiled egg that throws me a bit.

[@autogatos]

@@SilvaDreams this makes it even better imo. I don’t really like sweet stuff so a tart apple sounds like an excellent compliment for the other ingredients!

[@malcolmarchibald6356]

I was thinking of making that tomorrow! 😊

[@johncarter1150]

You've found your "flow" excellent presentation!

[@Fuerwahrhalunke]

My grandma used to make Zwiebelkuchen (Onion cake), with the same ingredients, though a little finer, for special occasions. You just brought the idea back. I will try this myself 🙂

[@TenaciousTentacruel]

Reminds me of a lot of humble Chinese dishes. Pancake with onion. Noodle soup with onion. Bun with onion. A lot of poor Chinese food was a staple grain seasoned with onion.

[@Undomaranel]

A lot of poor/ working class food the world over is a staple with a veggie, protein if lucky. That's partly why cheese was so huge in Europe, with the land and climate for herding, as it was a cheap and easy source of fat and protein to add with a bread or pasta and whatever stored veg was about to go bad.

[@vaylonkenadell]

@@Undomaranel Cheese as a food eaten by poorer classes is, of course, underscored in the famous dish "Welsh rabbit" -- which contains cheese, but no rabbit.

[@ellaisplotting]

​@@vaylonkenadellWelsh rarebit- it's pronounced like 'rabbit', but doesn't contain it in spelling or supper.

[@vaylonkenadell]

@@ellaisplotting "Welsh rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh rarebit is stupid and wrong." - H. W. Fowler

[@BeKindToBirds]

I love onion

[@melaniemassicotte6212]

You mentionned Québec's earthen oven. In some country roads named for farmers called 'rangs', you sometimes had an communial earthen oven built next to the road since they were far away from their town. Those that are closer to it would heat in up in the morning and they would get paid in bread and pies left next to it by the other farmers that used it that day.

[@1234redwing]

Remind me of certain North African city where they take their food to the local bath house, where they bake it by sticking it in the coals used to warm the baths

[@ValeriePallaoro]

that's a great bit of information = thanks so much!

[@FrikInCasualMode]

This is a surprisingly wholesome dish. Potatoes for carbs, eggs for proteins, apples and onions for micronutrients. Tasty, filling and nutritious - who needs more?

[@heidimisfeldt5685]

Add some fresh made juice. Carrot juice with lime. Or apple cider. Even orange juice. Something fresh.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

@@heidimisfeldt5685 Look, if that's the case, you could add some meat ... your comment is so off point I just can't even ...

[@alihorda]

Egg gives protein so no ​@@ValeriePallaoro

[@AlleyCatUwU]

I do! Another slice!

[@-in-the-meantime...]

Was just thinking that myself and a few neighbors would chow down on this. 😀

[@montgomerypatterson1055]

I love this guy's authenticity. Really makes it a great and enjoyable experience to watch.

[@hankscorpio3959]

Here in Bavaria, the Zwiebelkuchen, or Onion Cake is still a very common dish nowadays. We season it with Kümmel

[@amyfox9659]

what is kummel? (sorry phone text keypad doesn't add the double dot over the "u".)

[@michaelfiedler1968]

Caraway

[@markusbaumgartner9266]

And here in Rhineland-Palatinate we have it with the newly made wine in fall, the Federweißer, still bubbly and fresh! Pure nostalgia.

[@BlueberryGirl723]

Sounds delicious! When we gather this fall at Thanksgiving, and then at Christmas, too, a good onion pie topped with caraway and poppy seeds sounds delicious to serve as a warm appetizer with the fruit filled white wine drink we serve. We also serve a warm apple cider, orange juice, and honey drink with orange slices, and it is seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s a great way for guests to warm up from the chill outdoors when they come indoors, and just relax. It would be delicious with the onion pie. Everyone is always hungry when they arrive, as the appetizers go quickly, and this pie would be an added warm treat. (We always set out more appetizers after the meal, along with more cookies, candies, nuts, and fudge and fruit pies.) By the time the meal is served everyone will be well relaxed, in good cheer, and hungry again!😊

[@santworth]

I'm spanish, my family and I eat a salad made of exactly that ingredients. Potatoes, apple onion and eggs with some olive oil or mayo and its great!. It reminds me of some german kartoffelsalat.

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

The pie really is the hearty big brother to the sandwich, never has the convenience of being able to eat a whole meal in such compact form been matched.

[@scottfw7169]

Ya know, that is a point.

[@ramsessevenone416]

Never thought of it that way. That is a very good point. A meal is basically a deconstructed sandwich. For example a turkey sandwich deconstructed would just be a big piece of turkey, with lettuce and tomatoes on the side, and a portion of bread.

[@luckyblockyoshi]

@@ramsessevenone416salad theory. salad sandwich soup.

[@hotcoldman9793]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO Now my baked onion has a dessert!!!

[@townsends]

Hahaha!

[@ecothunderbolt257]

Onion Pie makes a lot of sense. Similar to your prior video on Onion Soup. I imagine this was a valuable addition to the lives of so many people of less means. I love exploring the history of the common folk.

[@Szanth]

Yeah it's a collection of the things at the apex of where "cheap" and "nutritious" intersect and stuff em into a pie

[@bevintx5440]

This reminds me of the potato pot pie recipe that my mon used to make. She would boil diced potatoes and onions in a minimal amount of water, seasoned with salt and pepper. There was a lot of onions. When they were cooked, she would add some evaporated milk. She would top it all with biscuits (cut or drop), and bake it until the biscuits were golden. I can almost taste it :-)

[@emilybach]

That sounds really good!

[@Guy_GuyGuy]

This kind of cooking needs to come back. Not every meal has to have meat in it to be hearty, delicious, and complex.

[@kernoleary1394]

I don't understand you guys that can just eat a mouthful of onions. my grandpa was the last person in my family who could, he'd be about 92 now

[@bevintx5440]

@@kernoleary1394 it’s not just a mouth full on onions. There are also potatoes, milk, biscuits, and seasoning. A more famous onion soup is French Onion Soup, which is liked around the world 🙂 .

[@Ardoxsho]

I'm old enough to rememeber taking trays of stuffed vegetables and vegetable pies to the baker. This was Northwestern Italy in the 1970s, at our summer house back at the village. It was fun to help Grandma make the pies or vegetables, then wrapping the trays in kitchen towels, and walking to the baker together.

[@tablescissors]

Wonderful memories! What did she like to stuff the vegetables with?

[@Ardoxsho]

@@tablescissors A traditional filling of mashed potato, onion, meat or chicken leftovers if available, eggs, grated parmesan, the mashed pulp of the blanched vegetables (zucchini, eggplant: onions and peppers would not be emptied but just halved), a bit of grated nutmeg, and the key ingredient in Ligurian cuisine, fresh marjoram (dry marjoram can be subbed - it really elevates any egg-based dish or filling). All topped with breadcrumbs and a bit of olive oil.

[@accedespeed]

"It is so good and it shouldn't be" got me 😂

[@hellequingentlemanbastard9497]

Funny, I've been baking this type of Onion Pie all the time during the picking season and when I sell them at our market they fly.

[@TrueFork]

is it necessary or beneficial to pre-boil the eggs? I think I'd just pour some beaten egg over each layer, it'll cook anyway and tie everything together

[@hellequingentlemanbastard9497]

@@TrueFork - I actually pour beaten egg over the lot - to bind everything when baking - before I close the pies with the lid. But the boiled eggs are still necessary. What's also nice inside these onion pies are thinly sliced leeks.

[@felixtheswiss]

In Switzerland we have similar "cakes" called "Wähe" I like the pure Onion ones. Lower crust and seared onions with beaten egg and spices.

[@Idiomatick]

I'm going to try this tonight, any other modern tips?

[@heidimisfeldt5685]

​@@Idiomatick make 2, and freeze one for later use, like for a very busy day. 😊❤

[@vbs4257]

I've made this pie numerous times. It is SOOO GOOD! And it's easy to make, too. I encourage anyone to try it.

[@heathboeddeker5401]

I would leave the eggs out and use meat instead. Allergic to eggs

[@majorfallacy5926]

That combination of ingredients is still fairly common in Switzerland (eg Rösti, although the egg is mostly just a binder)

[@troynov1965]

My mom and grandma used to cook some old recipes handed down from their family . We are from Appalachia. Im surprised ive never had this. Sounds pretty good though. We have wild apples here that are not much for eating off the tree but good for baking. They are not sweet like grocery store apples. Might try this with those.

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

Appalachia? So mom and grandma could survive off the land with a shoestring and a penny.

[@troynov1965]

@@Jackielong-sighted7890 Pretty much. We ate many a meal of pinto beans and cornbread. Biscuits and gravy was another meal that we ate quite often. My uncles said to me one time that when he was a boy we were so poor your grandma would can gravy. He was watching her one day canning gravy and every 7th jar she would sprinkle something in it and mark the top with a X. He sked what are you putting in the jars mark X, she said, Thats pepper for Sundays.

[@jeanzimmermann6691]

My great-grandmother living in London, England, used to take their roast beef and drop it off at the bakers on their way to church on a sunday morning and pick it up after church, perfectly done. She had no oven at home.

[@emazey5044]

Ryan's smiling face as he tasted the pie told us everything! Looks absolutely delicious, now I need kitchen pepper! Great video! 🤗💕✨

[@markreed392]

I was at Williamsburg a couple of weeks ago and tried the onion pie at the Kings Arms.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

How was it? Was it made like this recipe?

[@markreed392]

@@jamesellsworth9673 very similar. I don't recall there being any apples and I think that the dish would have benefited from them. But otherwise it was the same recipe. It was very good, but I confess that I ordered it because it was the cheapest entree on a very pricey menu. P. S. The peanut soup was fantastic.

[@Jackielong-sighted7890]

​@@markreed392Funny how the wealthy never desire our presence until we're making food for the gods from nothing. Do your pubs still have individual spirit or are they all commercial?

[@mrdanforth3744]

A word about the title "Primitive Cookery". In those days primitive had a slightly different meaning, more like basic or simplified. Today the same book might well be titled "Cooking for Dummies" lol.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

Agreed ... for historians, I find this a quite uncomplicated channel (You see what I did there?)

[@romanpavlenko9517]

Onion pie is extremely interesting idea how to bake something out of nothing. I would love to try eating it

[@scottanos9981]

I also trust this man with cooking anything. "Never trust a skinny chef!"

[@comradevodka4848]

Onion pie is still a popular seasonal food in Germany. Finding a nice recepie woulb be simple. (its delicious)

[@englishatheart]

How is it "something out of nothing"? You need those ingredients, which aren't "nothing."

[@manjoume5178]

when we think of apples i believe we assume they're sweet.. but apples back then could have had a neutral or bitter flavor with little sweetness to it.. good for absorbing flavors more like a potato fruit.

[@johnsnowdon2939]

I suspect that's part of it - there are plenty of varieties of more tart or less-sweet tasting apples. I'm not surprised by the use of fruit in a 'savoury' pie; we still use fruit in savoury dishes here and there in our western dishes, but for many cultures around the world it's a staple combination. I wonder if cooking the onions down before adding them to the pie would give this a further boost? That would be good to try.

[@interstellarsurfer]

Potato fruit? That's a horrible abuse of the English language.

[@kuchenjaeger2164]

@@interstellarsurfer Considering that multiple languages call potatoes "earth apples", I'd say it's fair.

[@rcjbvermilion]

​@@interstellarsurfer in French, potato translates to "apple of [the] earth", so calling an apple "potato fruit" is really not far off.

[@RaimoHöft]

"Heaven and Earth" is a typical german side dish. We in Mecklenburg-Pommerania consider it our national dish, since the region was one of the poorest till the 20th century. Just mushed potatos and apples topped with fried onions. Goes well with everything... sausages, espacially Bratwurst, meat loaf, roast meat of all kind.

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Thanks Ryan for breaking down that recipe from way back when to something we can understand today and come up with something so edible and tasty plus being nutritional to boot. Hope to have this some day, thanks again. Fred.

[@jaji8549]

I have yet to attempt Stewed Crab. Waiting for a sale on the main ingredient 🙂

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

I would do it differently from how they did it in their video. there were certainly some improvements that could have been made and some missteps that could have been avoided.

[@SarahM-lw2gd]

​@BlackMasterRoshi what suggestions do you have for the receipt?

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

@@SarahM-lw2gd First of all i would ignore the listed ingredient quantities as can usually be done in old cookbooks. Instead of bread crumbs use toast or garlic bread for dipping. Based on the ingredients it reminds me of a simple but delicious recipe for linguini and clam sauce. (saute onions/garlic, add white wine, cans of clams, parsley, black pepper, sprinkle romano cheese on top.) The thing about soupy italian seafood sauces like clam or fra diavolo etc is that the leftover juice is great for soaking up with garlic bread after the macaroni is gone. In this case I would use fresh crab, shell it, and boil the shell into a little broth (melt down a little anchovy paste into it for salt and umami), add just a splash of white wine for brightness (and additional lemon squeeze depending on wine available.) Nutmeg is no stranger to creamy italian sauces which brings me to the next point- With the egg yolk it seems like they're trying to do a creamy thing here so i would figure out the optimum amount of yolks tempered to how much broth you want ratio. lightly simmer the crab meat in the sauce once its just thickened a tad and serve. I see the full potential of a dish like this being unlocked by adding a diced sauteed onion, chopped parsley and sprinkled romano. Edit: I would saute with butter because of the crab here as opposed to the olive oil used for clam sauce. also i cheat these days and use fish sauce in my italian food instead of anchovies sometimes cuz its easier.

[@SarahM-lw2gd]

@BlackMasterRoshi I can see that. Not big into seafood, but I was still curious what you would change. Thanks for the response!

[@bandit5875]

Talk to local fishermen if you can! Find people at farmers markets and ask them to recommend you. 9/10 times, somebody knows somebody. They won’t gouge you nearly as bad as Walmart or Target.

[@johnsrabe]

3:36 There were also communal ovens in France in use into at least the 1960s. “Village in the Vaucluse” is a very readable sociological study that describes this.

[@natviolen4021]

There are also still community ovens in the southwest of Germany. Quite a few of them still are used by hobby bakers, baking together once a month.

[@johnsrabe]

@@natviolen4021 cool!

[@mistermanager226]

Jacques Pepin's memoir also talks of these ovens. I think around the WW2 timeframe or in the post war era.

[@johnsrabe]

@@mistermanager226 Maybe that is what I was thinking of!! is it called The Apprentice? It’s very good.

[@mistermanager226]

@@johnsrabe yes, that's the one!

[@wyntersynergyundignified]

“That’s so good…. And it shouldn’t be.” Makes me almost want to try it! Loving these videos!

[@theroadsman]

Such a good presenter. So confident and positive.

[@jubayerahamed5437]

Big fan mr Townsend from 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩

[@tom_foolery3705]

I don’t often comment on KZbin but I had to for this. Phenomenal video super chill and personal while still being engaging, educational, and informative. Great job.

[@zoichikanoe6242]

You are a good narrator, it's been a while I struggled to follow any videos, with yours, none the struggle.

[@Bootmahoy88]

Good sir, I just made your recipe, to the letter, except I used a modern oven, ha. It's delicious. The mixture of tastes is remarkable. Oh man, so good! Thankyou!!

[@__-fl5rn]

The recipe didn't say the eggs need to be boiled and sliced? Seems like adding raw beaten eggs would better fill and bind the pie filling. It's getting baked anyway.

[@massnb]

It was listed with the things that were to be layered, I'm guessing that's why

[@jamesbyrne2004]

The smile on your face and then saying "that is so good, and it shouldnt be" priceless.

[@blackhat517]

Creamed onion and bacon pie is a favorite in my house.

[@aloysiusdevanderabercrombi470]

That sounds good.

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

Sounds delicious!

[@nanspark1870]

How do u make it please

[@agimagi2158]

I would like to know too, please!

[@grumpypumpkin1]

When you were chewing - I was literally holding my breath waiting for your reaction 😂 Great video. Convinced me - I will try this!! I wonder if this could be premade and stored in the freezer to take place of the Lasagna?

[@shannondore]

I hope someone from Trader Joe's sees your comment. This would be right up their alley. They're known for interesting, authentic, and very good international frozen foods.

[@jjudy5869]

Yes, most pies freeze well. Make two, bake one. Then wrap and freeze the other for another day. Pull it out of the freezer and bake until done. You may have to tent the outer crust because it will probably brown well before the center of the pie is cooked.

[@Sourpusscandy]

The cooking and the back story, plus your courage to make it and eat it, is why I love your show. Keep up the great work!

[@kimberlyspurgeon9092]

Love this! I just made this today, using a Dutch oven covered with coals. It was my first time baking a pie like that, and while it was a bit too brown (kind of burnt) on the bottom, and the potatoes and apples weren't quite done (1:20 in the microwave finished it perfectly,) it was *delicious*!! I loved it and will certainly be making it frequently. I love the spice mix (made my own from Mrs. Morris, 1824,) and look forward to trying it on pork chops like recommended in another video. Thanks for sharing this.

[@catswirejewelry]

I love onion pie (from South Germany, I think someone else mentioned it, too). What my sister also used to make was a similar pie, but with potatoes, pears, and cheers. So yummy!

[@peterreily1490]

YES! I enjoy videos from this guy. I feel like I’m talking to someone in my living room about 18th century cooking. I live in Americas historic triangle so I love this stuff.

[@1clinkerman]

I truely enjoy the Kerr cooking episodes! Well done, young man. Hello from the Tyree.

[@ja-bv3lq]

Big man Ryan, TRYING to hold back a smile as he was chewing his first bite of that pie, was amazing!

[@SongOfSongsOneTwelve]

6:24 I could watch this content all day😅 It would just run in the background, talking about buying preparing, cooking and or baking whatever all day long. It transports me from these trying times to when I was very young. We were never allowed in the kitchen but my grandfather was a chef at the Pfister hotel and my grandmother was a baker. Everyone in my family was a fabulous cook or baker but it was always, “You kids go outside and play. If you come in, you stay in!” 😅 We stayed OUT. Also, no one ever measured anything. Since they used their hands as instruments, they knew exactly how much to put in of each ingredient, just based on their hand size. It was always “a pinch of this” and “a pinch of that”. The first pie that I’d ever made had a great crust, but it fell apart at the base. It was hollow, and like looking into one of those magical easter eggs that were made of crystallized sugar and had little flora or fauna sculpted in sugar in them. That was very traditionally German. Both sides of the family were German. So we ate the most iconic of foods at all times. Poor or not. But unlike my effort to bake a huge, sky-high apple pie, it was always foods of substance that filled your belly and comforted you. ❤ Thanks for making us feel at home while taking us into the historic past and helping us through these difficult baking issues. 😂 If you had medieval music and an antler candle chandelier (please not real) above you, we would feel as if we are still in a plague year. Everyone would have been plastered, too. I’m also glad for multiple of other advances in all sorts of things. Sanitation- I would have been more like Florence Nightingale, boiling or bleaching everything in pots in the sun. It was not that many years ago that medicine has gone from being aware of pathogenic microbes to being protected from them. These were such laborious times, so people didn’t have time to lose. Whatever was the fastest, cheapest, most fulfilling staple you could get, and that was likely bread, beer and vegetables and maybe some kind of game if you were lucky. Whole grains would have been consumed at a great rate. They had to harvest something every season. Young children were in the way. Older children worked. That was tradition. 6:15 I do not have memories of seeing them prepare crusts, but I remember how it felt. That was definitely something they’d let us experience. Everyone had all just cut the butter in without a wide pastry cutter. 6:27 That pie looks TASTY! I’m surprised you didn’t pre-bake the crust or wash it! That fat content of your butter must have been super high and caloric. Savory pie. Wow. Looks delicious! 👏Looked beautiful, too! I think you should re-create this pie and add steak, bacon and cheese. 😅

[@bobscar327]

Another really intetesting video. I like your presentation, too. Great work.

[@privacyvalued4134]

"We have very rarely cooked something in this kitchen that we didn't like." I dunno about that. Sometimes John clearly struggles to say nice things about what he has just put into his mouth.

[@sailorknightwing]

*thunk* Stewed crabs.

[@c0niferal]

My family makes a very similar recipe, we call it SOAP - sausage (chopped into ~1" chunks), onion, apple, potato. All in a cast iron pot, with the mashed potato on the top, then baked. Really lovely, really easy to make a huge amount of it. Cool to see this & realise it's probably been a family recipe for a long time :)

[@divehalfway]

02:34 the huh?? written by WHO???

[@chinobiii]

Yoooo hahahhaahaaha

[@phillypheeling]

😂😂😂😂

[@KC-gy5xw]

Absolutely. The Forme of Cury has some great recipes, but we think, what??? I love seeing what things looked like and love to see what warped into the equivalent today.. Butter, Potatoes, Onions - what's not to like? There's not too much reason not to eat well now, as then.. for very little money.

[@mariegp5021]

your face journey at the end was all i needed to try it

[@axolet]

This comment will be historic

[@gragglenotz]

Historians will read it and wonder. "What does it mean?"

[@Minnevan]

Die historic on the Fury Road

[@redgator12]

WITNESS!

[@thomasmills3934]

I was here to see it

[@queenloki9188]

I made this recipe last night with the OG seasonings the recipe called for. And it was sooo good! Shared with my husband and bestie. Taste so much like Christmas and really a treat. I don’t make pies often so my pie crust was very thick (too thick) and rustic but I thought it added to the old-timey feel. Anyways, I was just so inspired by the enthusiasm and the look of surprise when he took a bite that ADHD took over and I knew I had to make it! Thank you for sharing such awesome history in such a rewarding way!

[@kygon1]

I feel like you could even make a modern version of this. Personally, I would grilled onions in butter and beat the eggs. I would also mince the apples. But I’m not here to violate the recipe! By no means! But if I had to re-create this, I would do just that! The combination is surprisingly good. Salad ingredients for an egg pie or quiche. I love this history! Humble food is so honest and comforting.

[@tablescissors]

Would prob be good with bacon - like a Breakfast Pie. I happen to be quite partial to apples and onions as produce, so I had some confidence in this. Although, as a gluten free person (can’t digest it), I’d have to modify the recipe. But I really like it.

[@siamsasean]

I've had a lot of different modern onion pies. There's a nice 'receipt' in my old Joy of Cooking (by old I mean before they put in all the microwave BS). And apples with onions is an old favorite. I believe it's popular in Germany. Try it with a bit of chicken liver.

[@awestruckchild758]

What a lovely presentation. :) Thank you for this! God bless you lot!

[@Cheemysmasher]

This gentleman is just so engaging! His genuine interest and excitment make this so fun. Like hes just so enthusiastic about sharing history. Make this super fun to watch.

[@Tam.I.am.]

Chicken and apples taste delicious together, so I imagine this would be good. Too many things in it that I can't eat though, so I'll never know. And those things you mentioned actually aren't that hard for me to imagine. It's called being a lazy lady bachelor with health problems.

[@Blackmark52]

*Surely you could have a better knife or two.* I see slicing with a paring knife which looks so awkward, and a utility knife that looks like it cuts by crushing. Maybe more blacksmith episodes are in order.

[@MC-gj8fg]

Mace and nutmeg seem to be fairly similar in flavor unsurprisingly. Why do so many of these old recipes call for both when it doesn't seem to change the flavor profile of the dish compared to just using one or the other?

[@vinishshetty8055]

We still eat onion pie but it has changed form, Today it can be found as Egg Puff, Onion Boiled Egg and spices in a packet of flaky layered puff pastry baked till crisp.

[@ivanerway5451]

I find it hard to believe they would have boiled the eggs on a separate fire just to slice them up and add them to a dish that would then be baked, and I'm not seeing anything about boiling eggs in the recipe. Perhaps the eggs were instead used as a binder, or scrambled and added like a quiche? That's how I'm interpreting this recipe.

[@stubblyhead]

0:45 What were some things you've cooked that you didn't like? Do you think it was due to changing tastes, or that the recipe was unclear and your interpretation was off? Or maybe it was just not very good to begin with?

[@chris7384bu]

Just by reading from the cookbook, I would think that the onions will never be cooked through, ever. I`d say in a modern take, better to sautee the onions & potatoes in some butter a little before adding them to the pie. Also in this example the eggs were boiled to absolute death.

[@safetyedge9229]

You under cooked the pie, i would recommend you caramelize the onions and apple first, most likely they just assumed you knew how to make a filling.

[@Amokhunter]

I would have thought the eggs get beaten, maybe salted a bit, then dumped raw into the pie as sort of binding agent and what's not to like? I usually make this as a variation of roasted 'taters, sans apples but I think I'll give it a try with the apples soon-ish.

[@Moetastic]

I might try to make onion pie, I want to see how pre-cooking the filling of onions and apple will change the dish. I like carmalized onions and cooked apples.

[@uweschroeder]

Actually onion pie is still pretty popular in Germany. Not a variety with potatoes or apples though. It's a pie with a yeast leavened base and mostly onions and cream on top (or inside - so it comes as a tart or as a pie)

[@mysterium364]

Honestly I think it would be better if the eggs were put in there raw. They would permeate it and it would turn out like a hearty quiche.

[@lordfrostdraken]

Are you losing weight? You look pretty good mate, I have been watching yall for a long time. I really love these old recepies and have tried many of them myself. They are most often delicious, if sometimes a little odd heh.

[@kevinroberts781]

I often make a meal with whatever comes out of the garden or off my land. Normal people still do this world wide

[@creepyoldgoat]

Love seeing meatless meals in historic cooking, this one actually sounds pretty good to me!

[@VaveeDances]

Apples and onions are a great combination. I often make sautéed sliced apples and onions as a side dish. It’s delicious.

[@Mantelar]

A French onion pie, maybe with a bit of beef at the bottom, would sell today.

[@valeckverden]

Had version of this in kings arm tavern. Williamsburg va it was really good

[@PerilousPaddy]

If you just want the recipe like I do then jump to 4:50 and skip all the history waffle lol

[@beautiousmaximus9133]

What a great tutorial 💙I’ve never made pie crust before and you emboldened me to give it a shot. So today I made Onion Pye following your video. It turned out spectacular. Who would have ever thought that such an odd combination would taste so good, and the pie crust was perfect - light and flaky. I served it with bread and butter pickles. Hubby loved it. Very grateful. Thank you 👍💙

[@lat1419]

Such a shame you never made pie crystal before. Now you know- its the food of the gods. I started making pie crust aged 8yo a very (very) long time ago Once you get the knack it can ve throen together in minutes.

[@InTheWind_]

This gentleman is a very engaging teacher. I learn so much and enjoy every minute!

[@GrThDo]

I actually made this exact recipe for an old-time Philadelphia party about 2 months ago. It was really tasty, surprisingly. Another thing we made was Martha Washington's rum punch recipe. I thought it was going to be undrinkably strong and that the recipe must have been wrong...but it was in fact delicious and had our guests sloshed in no time. The punch bowl was empty within the first two hours.

[@susanlansdell863]

Sounds like the perfect party!xx

[@Havenwyck_Media]

et it is good! Simple and whole ingredients! Healthy stuff.

[@messier8083]

Previous host was great but this man is tremendous! Best wishes to entire Townsends team!