I have had many questions about pie birds since I first posted pictures of my little blue one in this post. Many many people have asked what a pie bird is and how to use it, so I have decided to do a post on how to use a pie bird, and a little information and history about the pie birds. When I was taking pictures I my pie, I had no intention of posting a tutorial, so these are not step-by-step pictures, but hopefully I explained myself well enough without pictures!
What it is:
A pie bird is simply a steam vent. It is a hollow ceramic device usually in the shape of a bird. I have however, seen other cute shapes for them – such as several apples stacked on top of each other, or a little chef holding a pie. Other names for a pie bird are Pie Vent, Pie Whistle, Pie Funnel, and Pie Chimney. The purpose of a pie bird is to allow steam to escape from the pie, and prevent the pie from boiling over. Pie bakers now days just poke little holes in the top crust to prevent boiling over – but it often does not work very well – and usually you have to keep poking the holes open again as the pie bakes. With the pie bird, you have no need to poke holes in your crust! They also serve the useful task of supporting the middle section of pie, and helping it not to sag – a sagging pie crust is the bane of all pie bakers! It also helps keep the pie crust from getting soggy, because the top crust isn’t resting right on the filling
Some interesting Info:From what I've studied about the pie bird (which adimittedly isn't much), I believe they were commonly in use primarily during the Victorian era, but I believe they have been dated back as far as the 1700s. I believe they are of dutch origin, but I could be mistaken about that.
Many pie birds are in the form of little blackbirds, most likely owing to the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence.”
A little interesting tidbit from Wikipedia – “The nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" refers to "Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie; when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing." But it is uncertain whether pie vents were designed to look as birds because of this song, or whether pie vents in fact existed earlier and the song was a reference to them.”
I have heard that when the pie is cut open, the cold air mingling with the hot insides of the pie will make the pie bird whistle or sing. This did not happen when I used my pie bird, but I honestly have only used it once. The reason being, I simply forgot about my pie bird when I made pies last year – I had just gotten it, and it was still in our china hutch drawer, and for another thing, I usually tend to make open pies – pumpkin and strawberry and so on. But as far as preventing boiling over, and keeping the crust from sagging, and getting soggy, it worked like a dream.
The pot pie I made using my pie bird was honestly nearly the most perfect pie I’ve ever made and we all agreed that it was the assuredly the most delicious. I’ve been making pies since I was “knee high to a grasshopper” as they say, but I have never gotten the crust just (well nearly) perfect until now. And just so you know, I’m not shamelessly bragging on myself, the perfect pie was a joint effort of my mom and I – she made the scrumptious filling while I worked on the crust.
If anyone is interested, I will try to sit down with mom and work out a recipe for our pot pie filling. It’s usually just “a little bit of this, and a pinch of that”.
Here are some useful links:
http://www.piebird.net/what-is-a-pie-bird.htmlhttp://www.piebirds.co.uk/what%20is%20a%20pie%20bird.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_birdThe first two links sell pie birds and chimneys as well, and you can find many places that sell them, simply by typing in “Pie Bird” into a search engine. I got my blue pie bird at the gift shop at the orchard we go to, and I got my sweet blackbird one as a birthday gift from my Nana.
How to use it: An in depth step-by-step tutorialUsing a pie bird is incredibly simple, here's how!
Once you’ve gotten the bottom crust fitted to pie plate, place the pie bird or chimney in the middle.
Spoon the filling in around the pie bird.
Roll out the top crust, and – here’s a little secret I’ve learned in my years of making pie - once you’ve got the desired thickness for the top crust, sprinkle flour on crust, spread it evenly and fold the crust in half – this will make the transition from the countertop to pie plate much easier. Once you have folded it in half, place half the topcrust on side of the pie bird (The fold should now be right up against the side of the bird) pinch or cut of a little section in the middle of the fold, so as to a create a hole for the pie bird. Now unfold the crust, careful pulling it apart, and place the hole you just created over pie bird. Now the filling should be virtually out of sight. Pinch the crust around the body of the bird (I forgot to do this with my pie, and a teeny bit bubbled up), and crimp the top and bottom crusts together.
Now your pie is ready to bake!
There is no need to take the bird out before serving the pie, simply cut around it when dishing out helpings!
I hope this explains everything, but please, if you have any other questions feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer!!
Have a great weekend everyone!!
~Elissa
P.S. NEVER EVER write something in word document and then try to copy and paste it into blogger... it does not work... it not only messed my whole post up, but my entire blog layout as well... so just a tip if you ever are doing a long post like this!
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