Four and Twenty Blackbirds, or  Pot Pies and Pasties

by Diana Farrell Serbe

Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king.

This familiar children's rhyme informs us that a large number of birds can be baked in a pie when rye is abundant enough to fill up one's pocket. It goes on to tell us that the resultant dish would be festive enough to serve to royalty. A monarch would have been one of the few in possession of a fork, so it was an elegant choice for other celebrants at a feast. A richly sauced pot pie would be eaten with finesse when a crust was used as a utensil. The alternative was the less delicate method of using fingers to pick up the juicy contents of the pie. The world owes many crusty dishes to the absence of cutlery.

In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer mentions "All of pasties be the walls of flesh, of fish, and rich meat." He spoke of pasties, pouches of dough that were small and portable rather than their next of kin, pot pies, which were very large and stayed on the table.

Pot pies were used as feast day dishes in medieval England. Pigeon, partridge, pheasant, grouse and squab were baked in the pies, as were rabbits, venison, mutton, fowl, fish, pork. We know from reading old recipes that the pies were cooked long enough to ensure that no birds could have been singing when the pies were opened. Small birds were boned and stuffed into larger birds, following the Roman tradition noted in the works of Apicius. (See the 18th century English recipe below.) As for rye, the old recipes merely say to use flour. Although Finland produced a pasty that was made with rye flour, barley flour was more common in England.

In the English tradition, the early pies were 'raised,' which signified the the dough stood by itself. To make this dough, lard or suet was melted with milk or water, and poured into the well in the center of a pile of flour. The dough was kneaded and set aside to rest. After resting, it was rolled and shaped around a pot or casserole (hence the name pot pie). The pot was removed, leaving the pastry case standing alone, ready to be filled. The shell, a thick and heavy affair, was called a 'coffin' which certainly would lead one to think that no birds, least of all four and twenty, were singing.

Fillings often combined sweet and savory together. Currants and raisins were mixed with meat, then sprinkled with sugar. The minced meat pie that we eat as a Christmas dessert today is but the ghost of the original which was similarly sweetened, but actually had minced meat in it.

Cornish Pasties were large and round, filled with a meat stuffing, folded in half and sealed with more dough. The dough was sturdy, enabling miners and fishermen alike to use their pasties as portable lunches. (A serviceable lunch pail that was brought by immigrants to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, - read Pierogi, Pasties and a Big Bowl of Corn Flakes.) The pastry maker carved the owners Initials in one end of the pastry, both as a steam vent while cooking, and as a territorial marking so no one would mistake who was the owner of the pasty.

The Finnish of North Karelia, a region that is now part of Russia, also had a pasty, this one generally stuffed with rice and made with a rye flour. The kalakukko fish pie is another delicacy from Finland. These are round, loaf-shaped pasties filled with fish and pork and baked at low heat.

ABOUT THOSE FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS: Yes, there is evidence that a pot pie could be baked with a removable lid. On at least one festive occasion, the lid was removed, live birds put in, the lid returned to the pie. More than likely, when the pie was opened, the birds sang with the joy of liberation. Considering that live birds would be subject to nature's process of digestion and elimination, we do not dare to imagine what they left behind in the pie. We are extremely grateful that today's superstar chefs compete with each other through swirls and whirls, rather than the use living creatures.

Yorkshire Christmas Pie (1765) from County Recipes of Old England, 1929 by Mrs. Helen Edden

'First make a good standing crust, let the wall and bottom be very thick; bone by opening down the back, a turkey, a goose, a fowl, a partridge, and a pigeon. Season them all very well, using 1/2 oz. of mace, nutmeg, and black pepper, 1/4 oz. of cloves, two large spoonfuls of salt, and mix them together. First bone the pigeon, then the partridge, cover them one with the other; then the fowl, the goose, and the turkey, which must be large, covering each bird in turn, so that at the last it looked like one large turkey. Lay the turkey in the pie and fill up the corners with hare or woodcock cut in small pieces. Fill the pie closely and put at least 4 lb. of fresh butter on the top. Cover with a thick lid of past and let the pie be well baked for at least four hours. This crust will take a bushel of flour.'

Get contemporary recipes:

Chicken Pot Pie

London Hotpot, a savory descendant, the creation of member, Isobel Lane

membership agreement   back to food is art   top of page

© Diana Farrell Serbe