Trading Places: Medieval Cooking Made Simple

Kate McDermott helps you bake a pie

I was talking the other day with my good friend Kate McDermott, one of the best pie makers in the country, about our love of old recipes—as in really, really old recipes. We thought it would be fun to trade places on our newsletters to share with our readers the ins and outs of how to cook them. Of course, we’ve chosen a pie recipe from 1378 and were perversely drawn to the horrifyingly named “Tartes of Flesh.” Below, Kate walks you through the art of baking the tarte, while in her newsletter, I give you a little history about how much fun you’ll have translating Medieval recipes for modern times. Enjoy! ~Pat

Photo credit: Andrew Scrivani

SMALL BIRDS IN A PIE

by Kate McDermott

Reading cookbooks is one of my favorite pastimes. I love finding recipes new and old to try, old favorites with a twist, and sometimes I happen upon a recipe that is so very interesting it goes right to the top of my must make list. Some years passed when I was researching very old pie recipes, I happened upon the book Seven Centuries of English Cooking by Maxime de la Falaise and found a 14th century recipe for an early version of savory pot pie. Called Small Birds in a Pie, in 1378 it was originally known as Tartes of Flesh but please don’t let that name put you off of trying a delicious layered meat and fowl pie with eggs, grated cheese, and spices. I invited a few friends over for an impromptu supper when I made it for the first time and after tasting it we all agreed that no matter what it is called this pie has definitely stood the test of time…seven centuries of time!

Below is the original 1378 recipe followed by a version for our own times.

Take pork sodden and grind it small, take eggs boiled hard and ground and put thereto with cheese gourd, take good powdr and whole spice sugar, saffron, and salt and do this therein and poant it with small birds and conyngs and hew them in small pieces and bake it as to fore and serve it forth.

Kate in the middle of making her pie

CHICKEN THIGHS BAKED IN A PIE

I think you’ll find it as delicious today as it may have been in 1378. If you don’t have a deep-dish pie pan, use any ovenproof baking dish. You will give this pie two egg washes; once before it goes into the oven to bake, and a second 15 minutes into the bake. If you might have a pie bird or two sitting on your shelf, you might pop them under the crust, too! 

Serves 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

1 recipe pie dough of your choice

1 pound (450 g) ground pork or sausage of your choice

2 large hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped

1 cup (100 g) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon saffron strands

1 teaspoon salt

4 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on, or 1 to 2 cups already cooked chicken, chopped in pieces

2 tablespoons (30 g) butter (if using chicken thighs)

1/2 cup (120 ml) chicken stock

EGG WASH 1 egg yolk plus 2 teaspoons (10 ml) water, fork beaten

PROCEDURE

1. Make the pie dough and let rest in the fridge while you make the filling.

2. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the pork, chopped eggs, cheese, sugar, allspice, saffron, and salt.

4. Line the bottom of a 9-inch (23-cm) deep-dish pie dish with one disc of rolled-out pie dough.

5. Add the seasoned meat mixture, and spread evenly.

6. Lightly brown the chicken thighs in butter and arrange them on top of the meat, or if using already cooked chicken, spread it evenly over the top.

7. Pour the stock over the chicken thighs or already cooked chicken meat.

8. Roll out the upper crust, and cover the filling with it. Seal and crimp the edges. Cut a few vents. (If you wish to use pie birds see note below.)

9. Brush the top crust with the first egg yolk wash.

10. Set the pie in the preheated oven. After baking the pie for 15 minutes, carefully remove it from the oven and close the oven door to keep the heat inside. Brush the top crust with the second egg yolk wash, return the pie to the oven, and continue baking for an additional 25 minutes. The pie will bake for a total of 40 minutes.

How To Use Pie Birds

1. Before placing the top crust on the pie, nest the birds in the middle of the filling with their heads sticking up.

2. Cut an “x” in the middle of the top crust, and settle it over the birds gently allowing their heads to peak through it. Fold the edges back an inch or so around the birds. The birds will vent the pie. Seal and crimp the edges around the edge of the pie pan.

James Beard Award Finalist Author, Kate McDermott is the author of Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Fillings, Crusts, and Life, Home Cooking with Kate McDermott, and Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make Any Pie You Want. She lives at Pie Cottage, her home on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, where she gardens, tends her wood stove, walks, and writes. She invites you to visit her Substack at Kate McDermott’s Newsletter.