![]() Īn older feast, held by the fishermen towards the end of December, included a pie cooked with different fish to represent the variety of catches the men hoped to achieve in the coming year. The celebration and memorial to the efforts of Tom Bawcock sees the villagers parading a huge stargazy pie during the evening with a procession of handmade lanterns, before eating the pie itself. Ever since then, the Tom Bawcock's Eve festival is held on 23 December in Mousehole. The entire catch (including seven types of fish) was baked into a pie, which had the fish heads poking through to prove that there were fish inside. Despite the stormy weather and the difficult seas, he managed to catch enough fish to feed the entire village. On 23 December, Tom Bawcock decided to brave the storms and went out in his fishing boat. As Christmas approached, the villagers, who relied on fish as their primary source of food, were facing starvation. The legend explains that one winter had been particularly stormy, meaning that none of the fishing boats had been able to leave the harbour. In this case, the pie is served to celebrate the bravery of Tom Bawcock, a local fisherman in the 16th century. As with many parts of Cornish heritage, a legend has appeared about its origins. ![]() The pie originates from the fishing village of Mousehole in Cornwall. ![]() On Tom Bawcock's Eve it is served in The Ship Inn, the only pub in Mousehole, sometimes after a re-enactment of the legend. In spite of the fact that the British Food Trust describes the dish as being fun as well as amusing to children, it has been listed in "Yuck! Disgusting things people eat", a lifestyle feature by the New York Daily News based upon the book by an American author, Neil Setchfield. The celebrity chef Rick Stein suggested also poking the pilchards' tails through the pie crust to give the effect of leaping through water. The position of the fish allows the oil that is released during cooking to drain into the pie, adding a fuller flavour and ensuring the pie is moist. The appearance of the fish heads makes them look like they are "gazing at the stars", hence the name. It is critical that the pilchards retain their heads, so they poke through the pastry top. ![]() Stargazy pie is a pastry-based fish pie which, by tradition, is filled with whole pilchards. In 2007 contestant Mark Hix won the BBC's Great British Menu with a variant of the dish. The story of Bawcock was popularised by Antonia Barber's children's book The Mousehole Cat, which featured the stargazy pie. According to the modern festival, which is combined with the Mousehole village illuminations, the entire catch was baked into a huge stargazy pie, encompassing seven types of fish and saving the village from starvation. The dish traditionally originates from the village of Mousehole in Cornwall and is traditionally eaten during the festival of Tom Bawcock's Eve to celebrate his heroic catch during a very stormy winter. Although there are a few variations using other types of fish, the unique feature of stargazy pie is fish heads (and sometimes tails) protruding through the crust, so that they appear to be gazing to the stars. Stargazy pie (sometimes called starrey gazey pie, stargazey pie and other variants) is a Cornish dish made of baked pilchards (sardines), along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust.
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