Stewing Sparrows, and Lambs Tail Pie

This is a very old Kentish pie recipe taken from one of my wonderful old cookery books.

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In spring, when the lambs' tails are cut, they are collected.    About half the tail, the thicker end, is used.   It is flayed and jointed: generally about two dozen tails are used in making an ordinary-sized pie.    Of course the crust is made in the usual way.  

(I have been told that the soft bones in the tails when cooked are like gelatine.)

Here is another version, from Suffolk.

Skin the tails and then stew them a little.   Take them out of the saucepan, cut them up and make a pie, with potatoes and so on.

According to someone who ate lambs' tail pie:  "It was delicious.   I can taste it now.  Delicious!"

There was a widespread and legitimate custom of collecting Sparrows for food - (sorry, Ms Sparrow!).

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They would be netted and caught, then skinned and stewed.    If a piece of pork was available this could be added for flavour and a pie could be made,  sparrow dumplings,  or soup.

Times were hard, people had to be fed...not sure how many sparrows it would take to make a decent pie though.

This next recipe is an eighteenth century one for Rook Pie.

Skin and draw six young rooks, and cut out the back bones; season them well with pepper and salt, put them in a deep dish, with a quarter of a pint of water; lay over them half a pound of butter, make a good puff paste, and cover the dish.   Lay a paper over it, for it requires a good deal of baking.

My final offering is A Heron Pudding.

Before cooking it must be ascertained that no bones of the heron are broken.  These bones are filled with a fish fluid, which, if allowed to come in contact with the flesh, makes the whole bird taste of fish.   

This fluid, however, should be always extracted from the bones, and kept in the medicine cupboard, for it is excellent applied to all sorts of cuts and cracks.

The heron is first picked and flayed.  Then slices are cut from the breast and legs to make the pudding.   The crust is made exactly like that of a meat pudding and the slices of heron put in and seasoned exactly as meat would be.   The pudding is boiled for several hours, according to its size. (I have been told that, as a matter of fact, it tastes very much like a nice meat pudding.)

Thank goodness for Quorn.

Thank you all for your very kind comments on my previous posts.   They were all much appreciated.  Aunt Lillian is making good progress - I can measure this by the number of complaints she makes!

I'll sign off with a few photographs taken on my early morning walk with Toby.