Pot pies, quiches make up the savory side of Peggy Jean's Pies menu

Run your eyes over the menu at Peggy Jean's Pies, and the question becomes what to have for dessert, not if.

From drunken apple to peach praline, brown butter chess to raspberry key lime, the well-regarded Columbia bakery counts around 50 varieties of sweet pies. But what should you eat before dessert? Peggy Jean's has plenty to offer there too.

The bakery makes an array of "savory pies" suited for a hearty, Midwestern lunch or dinner, serving four kinds of pot pie (pot roast, roasted chicken, Southwestern chicken and Buffalo chicken) and four types of quiche (bacon cheddar, vegetable, broccoli cheddar and sausage).

The scratch-made savory offerings "go from freezer to oven in under 30 seconds, making you the hero of your dinner table," the bakery's website says.

Making Columbia history with one dough recipe

Peggy Jean's savory pies share culinary DNA with their sweet siblings. The bakery's dough recipe has been handed down as an inheritance through several generations of the same family, owner Rebecca Miller said in an email, and only members of their family knead that dough.

The recipe, which started with Miller's grandmother, never made it to pen and paper, but has been passed down like a story.

"I often think how insane my grandmother would likely find our success based on something she created," Miller said.

This portion of family history twines with the bakery's history. Peggy Jean's initially met Columbia in 1994, a partnership between Miller's mother, Jeanne Plumley, and her closest friend, Peggy Day. The eatery started with a lunch menu and "sit-down service of dessert pies," Miller said.

"There isn't much time that passes in our stores now where at least someone doesn't come in and ask for the potato soup they served in those days," she added. "They did offer quiche on the lunch menu, but not pot pie."

After Day died, a decade passed before Plumley approached Miller, suggesting a "reboot."

"I was a lawyer that could learn to make pie but not a full lunch menu, so our plan in the beginning was to focus solely on dessert pies," Miller said.

About two years after reopening in 2014, the bakery gradually worked pot pie and quiche back onto the menu, "freezing it, and selling it to our customers for them to bake in their homes," Miller said.

"Both need about an hour to bake in a residential oven," she said of pot pie and quiche options. "This makes the house smell delicious."

A relocation, then a second location, freed Peggy Jean's to make savory pies a more significant part of the operation, Miller said.

From Peggy Jean's kitchen to yours

Miller often feels like "a pie sommelier," she said, recommending ways customers might bring the sweet and savory into balance.

"I've been asked about it all," she said, laying out a few flavorful pairings.

Serving a pot roast pot pie with salad and red wine, for example? Miller recommends a chocolate cream or Dutch apple pie for dessert. What if you go full comfort food with a roasted chicken pot pie and a wholesome glass of milk? Miller would call on the sweet powers of a chocolate bourbon pecan pie.

And dessert pies aren't the only kind to drop by someone else's house, Miller said from experience. Customers often pick up a savory pie for "neighbors, friends, new parents and more," she said.

"The savory pies are good to stay in the freezer for up to six months, so it is a nice gift to give someone that allows them to enjoy it on their timeframe," Miller added. "Often in times of joy or even of sadness for a family, a lot of people drop off food and it's a bit overwhelming. Tucking something away in the freezer for six weeks down the road is always a thoughtful idea."

The pie, as a simple vessel for meat and cheese and vegetables, holds a sort of timeless appeal. A complete meal by design, you don't have to fret over bringing something else to the table, Miller said.

"I've been doing this a long time and I will still take home four of our six-inch pot pies for my family so that everyone has their individual pot pie and there's no fussing about who got more crust. The irony is not lost on me," she said.

Peggy Jean's is located at 503 E. Nifong Boulevard, Suite C and 421 N. Stadium Boulevard, Suite 103. Check out their full menu — and learn more of their story — at https://www.peggyjeanspies.com/.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Savory pies can be a meal at Columbia's Peggy Jean's Pies