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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2021 27 THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! By Steve Benoff Pie and mash. What the heck is pie and mash? That's what I wanted to know when I came across it while reading a mystery novel on my Amazon Kindle. Earlier in the day I was reading the same novel on my iPhone using the Kindle app. The two devices sync together so that if I read on one, the other will alert me to press a button to update my progress on the other. Back to pie and mash. I was reading The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith. This is the first book in a series featuring London private eye Cormoran Strike. The book received good reviews, but some reviewers seemed puzzled by the fact that a first-time novelist could write such a polished novel. It turned out the Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J. K. Rowling. She wanted the book to stand on its own rather than being tied to such an acclaimed author. I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, but she can write a darned good mystery. Anyway, back to pie and mash. Cormoran was in a restaurant interviewing a security guard, and he ordered pie and mash. This was a dish completely new to me. So, I grabbed my phone and googled "pie and mash" not really expecting an answer. Turns out, it's a "traditional British comfort food that was once a staple of London's working class in the city's East End." That's not the only thing I learned from that search. The quote above comes from the Encyclopedia Britannica. It was the second source listed in my Google search. The first, of course, was Wikipedia. I liked the Britannica description better so I selected it and was taken to Britannica.com. That made me wonder if Britannica has an app, and, indeed, it does. So, I downloaded it and again looked up "pie and mash." That's where I found a concise, single-paragraph explanation. I looked up pie and mash on Wikipedia and found a much more extensive definition and that may be what some of us want. But I wanted a straight-forward meaning, and I preferred the one from my newly-installed Britannica app. I also preferred the picture in Britannica. Of course, Wikipedia gave me a fairly extensive explanation of the dish's history, composition, shops, further reading, and references. You've no doubt heard the joke about the kid who asks her mother what a particular word means. She replies, "Go ask your father." To this the daughter responds, "I don't want to know that much about it." That's how I feel about these two apps. When I want a concise, dictionary-type explanation, I'll go to Britannica. If I want more detail, I'll consult Wikipedia. By the way, these two aren't the only apps representing themselves as encyclopedias. I downloaded one called Encyclopedia by Farlex. As soon as I found it had no listing for pie and mash, I knew it wasn't for me. So, of course I deleted it. OK. The moment you've all been waiting for. Here is the rest of the definition of pie and mash from the Britannica app – "It consists of a minced-beef filling (historically, leftover scraps of meat and vegetables) baked in a pastry crust and served with mashed potatoes and a thin green parsley sauce called liquor (which actually contains no alcohol). Since the 19th century, a common side dish has been jellied eels, and the liquor sauce was traditionally made with the liquid left over from stewing or boiling the eels. Contemporary pies come in a wide variety — such as chicken, fruit, and vegetarian— and pie-and-mash shops remain popular throughout London, especially in the East End." If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. What the heck is Pie and Mash?

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