# Do you eat the pie crust? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 28, 2026, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219 "2026-10-28T17:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/21 "2026-10-28T18:28:51Z")
There is an ideal crust to pie ratio and many pies well exceed it. The excess gets left behind. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/22 "2026-10-28T18:30:44Z")
One of the key aspects I examine when purchasing a pie is the crust. The crust is a key element when deciding to purchase a pie since that is what you see. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/23 "2026-10-28T18:31:34Z")
I eat the bottom crust with the filling. Sometimes I’ll leave the scalloped edge crust. I’ve never had a pie with a homemade crust. My family bought pie crusts at the grocery. Yes, I would eat a flaky, homemade crust at a friend’s house. My favorite pie is a Chess pie. A Southern treat. 2nd favorite is sweet potato pie. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/24 "2026-10-28T18:31:44Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Another important part is refrigeration before and after you roll it out. Very cold crust bakes better. I once read an article about pie-crust making where someone theorized that their crusts had always come out badly because their hands were too warm - suggesting that people with colder fingers tend to get better results. I’m not sure that’s a huge factor, but if it is, the refrigeration trick could be a good solution. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/25 "2026-10-28T18:35:47Z")
I _love_ pie crusts, and I always eat it unless it’s irredeemably bad (rare). My mom made good pie crusts, and she used to make cinnamon rolls with any extra pastry. Spread with butter and lots of cinnamon and some sugar – they were delicious. I like a good pot pie, but I like the ones that have puff pastry on the top only. But that’s usually waaaaaaay over my calorie limit. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/26 "2026-10-28T18:37:56Z")
Usually, unless VERY tough. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/27 "2026-10-28T18:38:14Z")
Yes, I eat the crust. In fact, when I was very young, I had the odd habit of only eating the crust of the pie and leaving the fruit behind. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/28 "2026-10-28T18:41:54Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve never had a pie with a homemade crust. I think that’s the saddest thing I’ve read in recent days! ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/29 "2026-10-28T18:45:38Z")
Miners in Cornwall would regularly avoid eating the crusts on their pasties, and it was actually safer for them not to eat them. The pasties were half-moons of savory pies (sometimes with a sweet filling on one end that would come to be known as the ‘sweet corner’, to be eaten last, as a dessert). They’d handle the pasty by the braided crust and eat only the filling and crust over the filling, but not the braid. That way, they didn’t consume any of the coal dust that came off their hands as the handled the pies. The coal dust, if eaten, was toxic, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/30 "2026-10-28T18:49:13Z")
Ninja’ed ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/31 "2026-10-28T18:49:30Z")
My mother’s pie crust was so light, it had to be weighted down with ball bearings. It was so flaky that if someone sneezed in the next room, it blew apart. Of course we ate it. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/32 "2026-10-28T18:54:43Z")
I hope you removed the ball bearings first. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/33 "2026-10-28T18:56:58Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Why buy a pie in the first place, if you’re not going to eat the crust? Why not just get something else? Every once in a while, you have one of those triumphs of expedience over experience. I was doing one of my occasional meatless meal planning with the wife, and saw a “locally produced” frozen spinach and cheese quiche and figured it’d make a nice main for the meal. And it was tasty enough, but the crust was… well, I won’t accuse them of buying one from the store, but it sure tasted like one. And that leaves out the nostalgia where every few years I have a craving for a cheap chicken pot pie (that doesn’t take over a days dedicated prep!) and give in, and then after four or five bites, remember why I give in so rarely. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/34 "2026-10-28T19:22:30Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Why buy a pie in the first place, if you’re not going to eat the crust OP here. When I asked about the crust I was talking about the rim that overhangs the pie plate. Of course everyone eats the main top and bottom layer. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/35 "2026-10-28T19:24:55Z")
I understood that, which is why the outer crust is key in my decision making process. If it isn’t made correctly in that aspect I assume the rest of the pie has issues like inferior fillings and lower quality dough. Or that the person who made it didn’t know enough to preheat the oven. It took years for me to convince my mom to preheat the oven properly before baking. I grew up with biscuits that were always burnt on the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/36 "2026-10-28T19:31:27Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Of course I eat the crust. > > If you don’t like pie-crust then why eat pies at all? Yep. But sure- I have had a few pie crusts which were inedible, but that is rare. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/37 "2026-10-28T19:42:24Z")
Oh I agree. I think he should have a homemade pie crust at least once. Pie crust is cheap to practice on. Small amount of ingredients. Not exotic. Probably have on-hand in your cupboards. The mechanics of it are not hard to follow. Coldness is important. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/38 "2026-10-28T19:49:39Z")
Don’t hate me but I only like and eat one type of pie, apple. With apple pie I find the crust to be equally important to the filling. I try to get the perfect ratio of filling to crust in each bite. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/39 "2026-10-28T19:54:27Z")
Of course, like any self-respecting southern boy. The secret is in the grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219/40 "2026-10-28T20:28:59Z")
The crust is the best part! 😲 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-the-pie-crust/1034219.md?page=3)