Stargazy Pie - Recipes

Recipes

The original pie in the legend included sand eels, horse mackerel, pilchards, herring, dogfish and ling along with a seventh fish. In a traditional pie, the primary ingredient is the pilchard (sardine), although mackerel or herring is used as a substitute. Richard Stevenson, chef at The Ship Inn in Mousehole, suggests that any white fish will work for the filling, with pilchards or herring just added for the presentation. Prior to putting it in the pie the fish should be skinned and boned (except the head and tail), to allow for ease of eating. Along with the fish, the other traditional ingredients are thickened milk, eggs and boiled potatoes.

Many recipe variations around the traditional ingredients exist, some of which include hard-boiled eggs, bacon, onion, mustard or white wine. Other alternatives to the main fish can be crayfish and rabbit or mutton. The recipes for the stargazy pie are all topped with a pastry lid, generally shortcrust but sometimes puff pastry, through which the fish heads and sometimes tails protrude.

For presentation, one suggestion is that the pilchards are arranged with their tails toward the centre of the pie and their heads poking up through the crust around the edge. As it includes potatoes and pastry, the pie can be served on its own or with crusty bread, sometimes with vegetables. Other suggested accompaniments are Cornish Yarg, Rhubarb chutney, poached eggs or a slice of lemon.