What Is It? - #52

S

SifuPhil

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Today's offering was manufactured in the 1950's, but they've been around a lot longer than that. It is made of ceramic and measures 3[SUP]1/2"[/SUP] high by 1[SUP]1/2"[/SUP] wide.

mystery antique 56.jpg

WHAT IS IT?
 

Diwundrin said:
Toothpick holder?
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Nope. Although you could use it as such, that isn't its designed purpose.

Besides, what sort of inhumane person would shove little pieces of wood down a poor, defenseless ducky's throat? :playful:
 

Jackie22 said:
Creamer?
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No, not a creamer ...

Jillaroo said:
It's to put under the pie crust to allow the steam to escape
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Old Hipster said:
It's a pie bird! it was used to vent pies as they were baking.
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DING! DING! DING!

We have winnas!!!

Quick and dirty, just like I like it! :eek:

Jillaroo and Old Hipster both correctly identified this item as a pie bird. As Old Hipster explained, pie birds are placed into a pie in order to vent it while it is cooking.

Pie-Bird-photo.jpg

I had a feeling that anything related to cooking would be identified quickly - I'll have to take that as a challenge and find a harder one next time!

Congrats Jillaroo and Old Hipster, and thanks for playing, folks!
 
Contrats to you both!!!! I've never heard of such a thing and grew up with my Grandmother's homemade pies all the time. What a great thingamagig..
 
blackbirdpie.gif
 
I have never heard of anything like this either, so this is one that I would never have come even close to figuring out. Obviously, cooking trivia is NOT my forte ! I was thinking more of the toothpick idea, and if I ever had found one, toothpicks is probably what would have been kept in it.
And I think stuffing the sticks down a little birds throat is actually no more barbaric than baking it in a pie. They didn't look so happy doing that either....
 
Congrats Jill and Old Hipster! :bananalama: Cute little gizmo, I would have never guess what it was though. Thanks again Phil for another interesting WII. :cool:
 
Great to see that old picture of pie birds.. to let the steam out .. . in Cornwall in UK they have an object like that and they put them on the top of a pie ,
like fish heads poking out looking towards the sky.. . the pie is called "Starry Gazey Pie" I first saw this when I was over there...when I saw it it had a
pottery fish with its mouth open so as to do the same as those pie birds..



Stargazy pie (sometimes called starrey gazey pie or other variants) is a Cornish dish made of baked pilchards, along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust. Although there are a few variations with different fish being used, the unique feature of stargazy pie is fish heads (and sometimes tails) protruding through the crust, so that they appear to be gazing skyward. This allows the oils released during cooking to flow back into the pie.
The dish is traditionally held to have originated from the village of Mousehole /ˈmaʊzəl/ in Cornwall and is traditionally eaten during the festival of Tom Bawcock's Eve to celebrate his heroic catch during a very stormy winter. According to the modern festival, which is combined with the Mousehole village illuminations, the entire catch was baked into a huge stargazy pie, encompassing seven types of fish and saving the village from starvation. There is evidence that the festival dates back even further, to pre-Christian times. The story of Bawcock was popularised by Antonia Barber's children's book The Mousehole Cat, which featured the star-gazy pie. In 2007 contestant Mark Hix won the BBC's Great British Menu with a variant of the dish.
 

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