The pie floater is an Australian dish particularly common in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. It consists of a
meat pie
A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide.
Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. Ma ...
in a thick
pea soup
Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made typically from dried peas, such as the split pea. It is, with variations, a part of the cuisine of many cultures. It is most often greyish-green or yellow in color depending on the regional variety of pea ...
, typically with the addition of
tomato sauce
Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...
. Believed to have been first created in the 1890s, the pie floater gained popularity as a meal sold by South Australian pie carts. In 2003, it was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon.
Development
Pea soup with meat has long been part of English culinary history, with mentions in the 19th century, including the "pea and pie supper" (in Yorkshire), "pea soup with eel", and suet dumplings or saveloys. (Dumplings in soup were known as "floaters".) It may have developed from those dishes, which are useful for feeding groups of people on a budget: for example at a sports match or at harvest time.
A pie floater commonly consists of a traditional Australian-style
meat pie
A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide.
Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. Ma ...
, usually sitting, but sometimes submerged (traditionally upside down) in a bowl of thick
pea soup
Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made typically from dried peas, such as the split pea. It is, with variations, a part of the cuisine of many cultures. It is most often greyish-green or yellow in color depending on the regional variety of pea ...
made from blue boiler peas. It is often self-garnished with
tomato sauce
Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...
, and the consumer may also add a combination of
mint sauce
Mint sauce is a green sauce originating in the United Kingdom, made from finely chopped spearmint (Mentha spicata) leaves soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Lime (fruit), Lime juice is sometimes added. The sauce has a watery consist ...
,
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
,
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
, or
malt vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...
according to personal preference.
Early records in South Australia state that the pie floater was reputedly born in
Port Pirie
Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...
conceived by one Ern "Shorty" Bradley in 1890s, but it remains unknown if he did and how it came about.
Pie carts
Pie floaters were typically purchased in the street from pie-carts, as a late evening meal. Pie-carts are typically a form of caravan/trailer/cart, (originally horse-drawn), with an elongated "window" along one or both sides where customers sit or (more usually) stand to eat their purchases. The pie-cart was typically moved into position at lunch time and in the evening. As traffic became busier and on-street car-parking in demand, the carts evolved to have one window on "the footpath side", and were moved into position after afternoon peak-hour traffic had ebbed. They do business until late-evening or early-morning, after which they were returned to their daytime storage locations.
South Australia has had pie carts in the Adelaide metropolitan area since the 1870s. In the evenings, the
Norwood pie-cart was located on
The Parade adjacent to the
Norwood Town Hall
The Norwood Town Hall is the council seat of the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, and the building includes a number of other venues. It is located at 175 The Parade, Adelaide, The Parade in Norwood, South Australia, Norwood, an inner-east ...
. It was also the only place where members of the public could buy draft
Hall's "Stonie"
ginger beer
Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar.
Current ginger beers are often manufactured rather than ...
directly from the keg. In the
Adelaide city centre
Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ade ...
in the 1880s, there were 13 pie-carts operating in
King William Street and
North Terrace. By 1915 there were nine pie-carts in operation. By 1958 this had reduced to two:
Balfour's pie-cart on North Terrace outside the
Adelaide railway station
Adelaide Railway Station is the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. All lines approach the station from the west, and it is a terminal station with no through lines, with most of the traffic on the metropolitan network eithe ...
, and
Cowley's in
Victoria Square outside the
Adelaide General Post Office
General Post Office, a colonial-era building situated on 141 King William Street on the north-west corner of King William Street and Victoria Square, is the former General Post Office for South Australia, Australia, Postal services operated fr ...
. In 2007, the
Glenelg tram line
The Glenelg tram line is a tram/ light rail line in Adelaide. Apart from a short street-running section in Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference from road traffic.
The service is free in the city centre and a ...
was extended from Victoria Square along King William Street and North Terrace past Adelaide railway station, and the Balfour's pie-cart was forced to close.
In 2003, the South Australian National Trust traced the history of the pie floater: an impressive history tracing back 130+ years. The pie floater was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the
National Trust of South Australia
The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...
, although it is now available at a very few locations, among them are the
Café de Vilis
Vilmos "Vili" Milisits (8 September 1948 – 26 March 2021) was an Australian pastry chef and businessman of Hungarian origin, noted for the businesses Vili's Pies and Vili's Café (also known as the "Café de Vili's") in Adelaide, South Austral ...
, Enjoy Bakery on Norwood Parade, The Kings Head Pub on King William Street
and the
Upper Sturt
Upper Sturt is a suburb in the inner south of Adelaide, South Australia. The suburb is nestled in the lower reaches of the Mount Lofty Ranges with the Western Half located in the City of Mitcham Local government in Australia, local government a ...
General Store.
See also
*
List of legume dishes
This is a list of legume dishes. A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for their food grain seed (e.g. beans and lentils, or generally pulse) ...
References
External links
Pie Floater article(includes a photo of the South Australian version of the pie floater)
{{Soups
Street food
Culture of Adelaide
Australian cuisine
Culture of South Australia
Australian pies
Savoury pies
Legume dishes
Soups
Australian soups