Devizes pie facts for kids

The Devizes Pie is a special dish from the town of Devizes in Wiltshire, England. It's a type of pie filled with a mix of ingredients, including offal (which means parts like organs from an animal), all baked inside a thick pastry called huff paste.

This unique pie is believed to have first appeared in the 15th century. Over the years, it became less popular, then was "rediscovered" several times. It was brought back in the 1950s and 60s, and then again in 2006. Today, some modern recipes for Devizes Pie use different meats instead of mostly offal.

The Story of Devizes Pie

How the Pie Began

The Devizes Pie likely started in the 1400s. The original recipe used offal, like a calf's head, cooked inside a very firm pastry case made of huff paste. This pie is strongly connected to the town of Devizes in Wiltshire.

For a long time, people thought the old recipes for this pie were lost. However, a recipe from 1830 was found. Then, in the 1960s, another recipe was discovered. After this, the pie was served for several years at the Bear Hotel in Devizes.

The Pie's Comeback

The Devizes Pie became less popular again, but it made another return in 2006. This happened as part of the Devizes Food and Drink Festival, a local event celebrating food.

In 2015, a famous TV presenter named Terry Wogan featured the Devizes Pie on his show, The Great British Food Trip. He tried the pie at the Black Swan pub in Devizes, helping to share its story with more people.

What's Inside the Pie?

An older recipe, published in The Times newspaper in 1956, described the pie's main ingredients. It included thin slices of boiled calf's head, with the brains and tongue cut into strips. It also had slices of cold cooked bacon and lamb, plus rounds of hard-boiled eggs.

More recent versions of the recipe often use less offal. They might only include tongue and replace other parts with meats like stewing lamb, lean veal, sliced ham, and bacon. This makes the pie appealing to a wider range of tastes today.