I'm not so sure I agree with that. Even with chicken pot pie, there are absolutely a few different variations that (in my opinion) are equally valid- most notab

I'm not so sure I agree with that. Even with chicken pot pie, there are absolutely a few different variations that (in my opinion) are equally valid- most notably, there's the question of whether it needs to have a crust underneath the filling or not. How thick should the filling be? I've had chicken pot pies where the filling is almost a soup, and ones where it's almost firm enough to pick up and eat a slice. Do you use traditional pie crust or a layer of puff pastry on top- or maybe nestle biscuits on top? Should I use potatoes or not, because that'll affect how hearty and filling it is? How about peas? I'll grant that if I use turkey I should call it "turkey pot pie", but what about Cornish game hen? What if I use parsnips instead of carrots? Then there are different forms- what if I didn't make it in a pie tin, but folded the dough into a half-circle like a hand pie? Or perhaps a rectangle? It might be more accurate to call this a "chicken hand pie" but then you have the ironic problem that a diner might be more willing to order it if they understand that it's really a chicken pot pie in a different shape. --- I know I'm being a bit pedantic here, but here's the thing- you're not wrong in spirit. But I think it's overly reductive to say "yes; there's only one right way to do it". IMO, it's sort of more like the difference between a cover of a song vs. a remix of a song. In the same way, there's a sliding scale here- a cover of a song might be an attempt to perfectly duplicate the original, or it might be similar but a different artist's take, or it might be a completely different genre (but preserving the song's structure). A remix is a different song entirely that borrows elements of the original.