Is this what "four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" refers to?

Best Wishes,
Helene
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Helène Whittaker
Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
Department of Historical Studies
University of Gothenburg
Room C422
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Telephone: (+46) 0317864514

Från: Ralph Hancock <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Svara till: Ralph Hancock <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Datum: onsdag 4 februari 2015 01:08
Till: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Ämne: Re: fat use and storage

Beatrice Hopkinson wrote:
I would think that the fat would go rancid after a time, depending on outside temperature, and affect the product below.
Once exposed to air, the food itself would of course be affected.

Yes, it would, though a hard fat such as lard would last a long time in cool conditions. The topping would probably be discarded anyway. This is really a method of preservation that works long enough to get food to market where transport is slow. Another, which avoids having to use a dish, is to cook the food in a large pie made of hard flour-and-water 'huff paste', which again would be discarded or thrown to the dogs. For example, the lampreys that were an expensive delicacy in medieval England (and of which King Henry I died of a surfeit), and which are highly perishable, were transported inland in pies.

RH

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