The whole catch, which included 7 different types of fish, was then said to have been baked into a pie. On December 23rd, the brave Bawcock ventured out to see, scored a catch, and made it safely home, thus saving Christmas and the entire village population. The story, dating back to the 16th century, goes that one Christmas the town was nearing starvation, as storms had been raging on the coast, grounding all the fishing boats. The pie originates from the small fishing village of Mousehole in Cornwall and is usually served on Tom Bawcock's Eve, celebration the heroics of fisherman it's named after. Their heads are baked sticking out of the crust, giving the appearance that they're gazing at the sky, but this practice also allows the oils and juices from the fish to flow back into the pie, making it moist.
Stargazy Pie is a Cornish dish, traditionally made with pilchards, or sardines. Both require stuffing whole birds and baking them in a crust, their little legs poking through. Some suggested cornish game hens and others suggested quail, so after doing a little research in a few cookbooks and on the ol' internet, I found two recipes- one for a Medieval Game Pot Pie from Alton Brown and another for Stargazing Quail Pie from the British Pieminister Cookbook. Since it would be rather difficult and probably not culturally acceptable to catch small live birds and stuff them inside a pie, I decided instead, well, to use dead ones. I initially set out to make a "modernized" version of 4 and 20 Blackbirds Pie from the Mother Goose nursery rhyme (more on that soon here!). But I've deemed 2013 the year of the savory pie, so I guess there was no other way to start but to dive right in. But don't get me wrong, it was indeed a culinary EXPERIMENT-my first time cooking quail, and a somewhat rare occurrence of cooking meat I'm just not sure how much I can endorse this as an enjoyable pie to eat. Consider this more of a historical experiment than a culinary one.
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