How to Make Devonshire Squab Pie – The Victorian Way

Today, Mrs Crocombe is making a Devonshire Squab Pie - a simple but delicious dish that uses mutton and apples.

Curiously, squab means pigeon, so this is an oddly named recipe given that there is no pigeon in it! The Devonshire part of the name may allude to it being an apple growing region, as well as having plenty of fine grazing land on the moors for sheep.

The Victorian Way is filmed on location in the kitchens at Audley End House and Gardens in Essex, UK.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4-6 people
1 onion
2 eating applies, ideally Cox
1 tbsp vegetable oil
12 boneless mutton neck cutlets
Butter, for the dish
55 ml/2 fl oz/ ¼ cup meat stock
310g/11 oz puff pastry
Flour, for dusting
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the egg wash:
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Pinch of salt

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390F. Slice the onion as finely as possible. Peel and core the apples and cut into slices of around 0.5cm - 1cm (quarter of an inch). Heat the oil in a frying pan on a high heat and fry the mutton until browned.

Butter an ovenproof pie dish, including the rim. Layer in the onion, apples and mutton, seasoning as you go (as mutton generally requires lots of pepper). Pour in the stock and cover the dish tightly with foil, or put a lid on it. Braise in the oven for 90 minutes until tender. Remove and allow to cool. You can do all this the day before serving, in which case chill it, then return it to room temperature before covering with pastry, and increase the oven time by 10-15 minutes.

Roll out the puff pastry on a flour-dusted surface. If you have a pie funnel, put this in the centre of the pie dish. Fold the pastry over the dish, carefully sticking it to the funnel, if using. If you don't have a pie funnel, you will need to make an air hole in the lid, or cut a few slashes in it, to let out the steam as it heats. Decorate with pastry leaves and other designs. Mix the egg, milk and salt to make an egg wash and brush it over the pastry.

Return the pie to the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the filling is piping hot. Serve hot.

[EnglishHeritage]

Oh hello, fancy seeing you here! Thank you for watching - we’re extremely grateful for your support and send our best wishes to you all.

Here are our answers to some frequently asked questions about this recipe:


WHAT IS MUTTON? AND WHERE CAN I GET IT?
Definitions vary a bit, but generally mutton is the meat of sheep which are over two years old. Lamb is that of a sheep under a year, and in between is something called hogget (which may also be sold as mutton or lamb). It is sold in some butchers in the UK, and available easily online. If you cannot get any mutton, you can use goat (which is very similar) or lamb, but the pie will not be quite as flavoursome.

WHAT KIND OF STOCK DOES SHE USE?
Mrs Crocombe would have had several different grades of stock to choose from. However, any meat or vegetable stock will be fine. IF you are using a stock cube, do be very careful with the seasoning as they tend to be rather salty!

WHY DOES SHE USE SALT CRUST? WHY IS SHE SAVING PAPER?
Paper was often in short supply in the past. Although paper made from wood pulp, rather than rags, was in common use by 1881, Mrs Crocombe would have grown up in an era when it was still expensive and not to be wasted. A convenient alternative was a simple salt paste, made of flour, salt and water. As you can see in the video, it has the advantage of sealing well to the pie dish, and the broken remains could be sent off to feed the pigs. In a modern context you could use foil instead; just make sure it is well-wrapped around the dish.

WHY DOES SHE REPLACE THE CRUST?
This pie benefits from a long, slow cook for the filling, whereas the puff pastry crust only needs a relatively short time. Pre-cooking the filling is therefore required. Mrs Crocombe does it in the dish, rather than, say, on the hob, because the pie is a layered one.

DID SHE MAKE HER OWN PASTRY?
Of course! (well, Mary Ann probably made it, but it was all made by hand from scratch).

WHY WOULDN'T SHE SERVE IT TO GUESTS?
It is a relatively plebeian pie, without a bottom, and with plain ingredients. The recipes in Avis' manuscript suggest that much of her food was fairly plain, but that she was more than capable of producing very fancy dishes as well. Guests needed to be impressed with raised, moulded crusts and expensive produce, whereas this pie is a little more homely.

I WANT TO TRY MAKING THIS! ANY ADDITIONAL ADVICE?
If you buy your puff pastry, do make sure that it is all-butter puff. Otherwise, you could use shortcrust. Also, leave your pie to cool once you remove it from the oven and take off the salt crust (or foil).

[madydoll]

And when the world needed her most...she returned

[Rosenotwithoutathorn]

"The taste of onion isn't well liked by the family, however, quite frankly, the family will eat what I decide they will eat".

[joshuaoneill]

There was no "Hello" or "Didn't see you there".
She knows we are here, and she know she can make us wait.

[beek.]

“Coming from Devonshire myself...” WE’RE UNLOCKING MRS CROCOMBE’S BACKSTORY NOW

[chownera]

"there isnt any pigeon in this pie"

*flashbacks to THE pigeon pie*

[kak]

"Obviously, I'm not going to serve it with this salt crust."
Me, holding aloft my slice of frozen pizza: "Of course not. Wouldn't dream of such a thing."

[gaysatan]

SHE’S BACK. THE WORLD IS SUDDENLY OKAY.
(I cannot stress enough how much I’ve needed this)

[Rasmia_Oxford]

Every time Mrs Crocombe has something to say about “poor people”, “not very good”, she look right into your eyes.

[abbym]

I know that, for filming purposes, it makes perfect sense for us to only ever see Mrs Crocombe alone in the vast kitchen making one moderately sized dish at a time... but I'd honestly really love to see an episode that shows us what the kitchen looks like when it's actually busy- say, if Lord and Lady Braybrook had an important guest over and were trying to impress with an elaborate meal. With a dozen maids cutting ingredients for a dozen different dishes, and four pots simmering on the stove at once, and the oven full, and the butler or footmen going back and forth trying to make sure the next course is timed properly, and calling for ice from the icehouse or a few more apples from storage, and Mrs Crocombe watching over and commanding it all at once! I think it'd be a really fun episode to see.

[brendonuriesmilk]

“You’ll need some fat” oh don’t worry I have plenty

[Pantagrumiel]

« I’m going to highly season this dish with salt and pepper » yup, we’re in England

[pennamagica]

I love how everyone in the comments is always so exited and affectionate to a lady who dresses as an historical figure and cooks fancy English stuff.
It's like finally finding people like me, it really makes me feel at home!

[chromeshellking]

Ya'll missing the fact that Edgar is doing such a good job he isnt even being MENTIONED. The fact that he hasn't delivered on badly picked apples of state and size and is avoiding her shade is...beyond impressive of his age of the time.

Edit: I love all of you. I miss edgar too. Looked like a good young man who appreciated being a hard worker and efficient at learning how to be the replacement for Mr. Vert one day.

[mozarellaist]

This comment section is so nice and full of love, it almost makes me emotional. I wish all of you much love, health, happiness, peace and success in life! You're great!

[shreyamohan]

“I’m going to highly season this dish with salt and pepper”
Puts a pinch of pepper and salt

[HeyImAlyRay]

When she said “highly season with SALT and pepper” all I could remember was her dumping salt on the Turbot fish

[laurajayne]

Did anybody else instantly get all excited for this!? Has made my day!!

[xiscc-sohamroy]

I badly wanted her to say "Quarantine is very fashionable these days"

[qataribananahamock]

"Squab means pigeon, there isn’t any pigeon in it. It’s not from Devonshire either. … Come to think of it, it’s not even a pie…"