Star-Gazy Pie

Ingredients

• as many fresh herrings or mackerel as will fill a moderate-sized dish
• salt
• cayenne
• chopped parsley
• butter the pie-dish
• sprinkle upon it a thick layer of finely-grated bread-crumbs
• six eggs beaten up
• two tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar
• half a quarter of a pint of cream
• Cover the dish with a good crust

Method

1. 1

   Scale, empty, and open the fish, removing the bones.

2. 2

   Season the inside with salt, cayenne, and chopped parsley, then roll it up.

3. 3

   Butter the pie-dish, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, layer in fish and bread-crumbs, cover with bacon or ham fat, and pour over beaten eggs mixed with vinegar or cream.

4. 4

   Cover with crust and bake in a well-heated oven.

5. 5

   Arrange fish heads in the center before serving.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 1897. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Star-Gazy Pie (a favourite Cornish dish). — This pie is thus named because the heads of the fish are usually placed mouth uppermost in the centre of the Lid of the crust, as pigeon's legs are in a pigeon pie, and there- fore the fish are supposed to be gazing at the sky or the stars. Take as many fresh herrings or mackerel as will fill a modei-ate-sized dish. Scale, empty, and open them, and remove the bones. Lay them flat on the table, season the inside of each with salt, cayenne, and chopped parsley, and roll it up neatly. Butter the pie- dish, and sprinkle ujjon it a thick layer of finely-grated bread-crumbs, lay in some of the fish, and fill the dish with alternate layers of fish and bread-crumbs. Cover the contents of the pie with a few slices of fat bacon or the fat of a ready-dressed ham, and pour over all six eggs beaten up with two table-spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, or, if preferred, half a quarter of a pint of cream. Cover the dish with a good crust

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.