Q: I have an interesting mystery. I found this strange ceramic figure in my mother-in-law’s attic. I think it’s a goose or blackbird reaching for the clouds. The beak end has a small hole. The body end is open and has what I call a “saddle” shape. It’s fired inside and out, so I think the impermeable surface indicates it was made to withstand liquid inside. There are no identifying marks. What do you think this was used for?
A: It’s a “pie bird.” Pie birds are used to let steam escape from a two-crust pie and to prevent juices from bubbling over. Pie birds have been around since the Victorian era. They are sometimes called “pie funnels,” “pie chimneys,” or “pie whistles” and are made in different shapes, although a bird is the most common. Your blackbird, reminiscent of the children’s rhyme “Four and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie,” is one of the most common. Versions of it are still being made. Value: under $30.
I have 2 or 3 of these in my kitchen drawer, and I use one whenever I make pies, whether the pie has a pastry base or not. As well as blackbirds, I have a plain brown one which is shorter than the blackbirds, shaped like an inverted funnel and sometimes fits better.
A minor side-effect of using one is that there is always a bit of filling left underneath it – cook’s bonus after you serve your pie!
my chldren loved that pie bird – good for the pie and for the smiles
– I think I bought it from Williams Sonoma or Lillian Vernon. We lived in a Southern Boomtown and the upscalestores did not get there till later, so I’d find great ones for mail order and did as well as when we lived in NYC suburb. 🙂