Difference Between Pie and Cobbler

Pie vs Cobbler
 

The difference between pie and cobbler is mainly in the crust of each food type and the ingredients used. All of us are fond of desserts, of which pie is an important variety. It is made with pastry dough that is full of sweet or savory ingredients and is normally baked. There is another sweet dish called cobbler that confuses many as it is almost similar to pie. This is because it is also made with fruit ingredients just like some pies. A cobbler is a dessert that has a topping that is sprinkled before the dessert is baked. There are many who say that cobbler is just a variation of the basic pie, while there are others who feel that cobbler is an altogether different type of fruit desert. Let us take a closer look at a pie and a cobbler.

What is a Pie?

A pie is a baked dish. A pie invariably has a bottom crust. A pie can come only with the side crust and bottom crust. However, sometimes pies come with two crusts and ingredients are placed in between. The top layer is usually a pastry while the base is also sugary in taste and crumbles in the mouth.

The evolution of sweet dishes or desserts such as pie, cobbler, crisps, crumble, buckle, grunts, sonker, pandowdy, slumps, tart, etc. has to do with the need that was felt for long standing foods, especially at sea. If we look at the history of pies, we find that they arrived on the scene as early as 10000 BC that is regarded as Neolithic Age. Really speaking, pies are Roman idea of sealing meat inside flour and oil paste and then cooking it to prolong the life of the dish. Pies can have any food material, and we have meat and chicken pies. Most fruit pies are very similar to each other with only fruit changing in the filling of the pie.

Some examples for pie are meat pie, pecan pie, apple pie, pot pie, pork pie, etc.

What is a Cobbler?

A cobbler is also a baked dish. A cobbler never has a bottom crust. Cobbler is a generic name for deserts made of fruits in such a manner that fruit pieces are poured into a baking dish that is then covered with a batter or biscuit dough before it is baked.

The name cobbler has come to use because once the cobbler is baked the biscuit dough that you have put on top of the ingredients puff up. Then they look like a cobbled street. That is why this dish is known as a cobbler. Some examples for cobbler are peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, apple cobbler, strawberry cobbler, brandy cherry cobbler, etc.

What is the difference between Pie and Cobbler?

• Type of Food:

• Pie is a dessert.

• Cobbler is a dessert.

• Filling:

• Pie can use any ingredient such as fruit, meat or even vegetables as the filling.

• A cobbler only uses fruits as the filling.

• Crust:

• A pie has a bottom crust and a side crust that goes round. Some pies even have a top crust.

• There is no bottom crust in a cobbler.

• Connection:

• It is better to call a cobbler a variant of a pie.

• Size:

• Pies are smaller than cobblers.

• Cobblers can be as big as you want them to be.

• Shape:

• Pies are usually round in shape.

• Cobblers can be any shape you want.

• Types of Pie and Cobbler:

• Some examples for pie are meat pie, pecan pie, apple pie, pot pie, pork pie, etc.

• Some examples for cobbler are peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, apple cobbler, strawberry cobbler, brandy cherry cobbler, etc.

• Taste:

• Pies come in both sweet and savory flavors as you use ingredients other than fruit as the filling.

• Cobblers usually come with sweet flavor as they are made using fruits.

Pie and cobbler are both famous desserts. They are both baked. The main difference between pies and cobblers lie in the ingredients used for filling and the crust of each dish. A cobbler never has a bottom crust. A pie has a bottom crust and a side crust. The top crust of a pie is optional.

Images Courtesy:

1. Apple pie by  FlickreviewR (CC BY-SA 2.0)
2. Apple cobbler via Wikicommons (Public Domain)