From throwaway crusts to royal banquet centrepieces, our beloved pie has a weird and wonderful history stowed away behind its pantry door.
Illustration by Sue Gent
Cow heel (Cumbria and Lancashire)
The fatty cartilage around a cow’s heel was used to make a sticky and sweet gravy in a pie.
Swan (Nottinghamshire)
The finest pieces of swan meat, stewed with sugar and spices and served in a Budby pie.
Lambs tail (Cotswolds and Kent)
After docking the tails from lambs, the wool would be removed, the tails joined and stewed with root veg. Two dozen tails would be required for a pie.
Sparrow brains
In a courageous tart these were mixed with sweet potatoes and fruit.The name likely refers to the rumoured aphrodisiac qualities of the dish.
Rook
When young rooks were ‘cleared’ in spring, the breast and legs would be simmered in milk before being baked in a pie.The rest of the bird was too bitter for eating.
Larks
Recommended by Mrs Beeton to be served as an entree, these birds would be baked whole in a pie, bones and all.
Intestines (Cornwall)
The appetising sounding muggety pie contained cow entrails, boiled, sliced and mixed with cream and parsley.
Testicles
You could be forgiven for not knowing that ‘stones’ referred to testicles in the 18h century. Blanched and sliced, they were the main ingredient of a lambstone pie, mixed with artichokes and sweetbreads.
Piglests (Cornwall)
Or to be more specific, prematurely born piglets, the main ingredient of a tiddago pie.
Udder
Boiled and sliced with tongue and mixed with raisins, an udder pie was apparently tasty hot or cold.
Words: Steph Wetherell; thelocavore.co.uk