Information on various Cornish foods.

Factual Questions
1

Here is an entry from the book “The Mousehole Cat”:

So, as best I can tell, this translates to:

Monday: Fish Stew
Tuesday: Baked Hake, a big fish.
Wednesday: Apparently “kedgeree” is sorta like Cornish succotash–some beans, lentils, fish, what else?
Thursday: Apparently pilchards, a little fish.
Friday: Launces are apparently an eel-like fish.
Saturday: Scad are shad?
Sunday: Is this some kind of fish pie?

Any further expatiating would be appreciated. My nieces love this book, and I’d like to have a better grasp on explaining some of these foreign terms.

2

I just finished reading Charles de Lint’s The Little Country last night and can confirm that star-gazy pie is a pie made of fish with the heads sticking out.

3

Kedgeree is originally an Anglo-Indian dish, based on the Indian “khichhuri,” which is a stew-like soupy mixture mainly comprised of rice and lentils. The English in India adopted the dish, adding in some of their own favourites, notably fish.

4

Scad

5

Kedgeree - a mixture of rice, boiled egg (sliced) and smoked fish (flaked). Nice.

Stargazy pie - a sardine pie. The heads of the sardines poke out of the pastry, with the eyes turned upwards, thus stargazing. The gaps between the fish inside the pastry is filled with chopped boiled egg and onion. A lot nicer than it sounds.

6

stargazy pie looks like this

7

Apparently the orientation of the sardines in stargazey pie is deliberate - and causes the nutritious fats to drain out of the fish and run down into the filling,

8

I heard it was in imitation of certain fish known as stargazers that stick their heads out of the water, looking at the stars.

A brief google reveals at least two families of “stargazers”, but not in Cornish waters.

9

I love the (concept) of Stargazy Pie! When I first read mention it, I had to check it out. I don’t want to eat it, though. There are some great pictures of the pie online, with heads and tails of the fish arranged beautifully.

10

Here is an interesting-looking recipe for Stargazy Pie, complete with photos. The author uses mackerel instead of pilchards / sardines.

I’ve not yet had the chance to eat this legendary dish, but I have been to Mousehole (pronounced “Mowz’ll”; it’s a pretty little place just outside Penzance (of Pirates fame), and not too overrun by tourists. It has some fun illuminations around Christmas, to coincide with the Tom Bawcock’s Eve celebrations.

11

Just to clarify, the English version of kedgeree doesn’t contain lentils (or beans, which the OP mentioned). It’s rice based, with smoked haddock and, usually, sliced boiled egg (although some versions use beaten egg mixed in throughout the rice). It’s absolutely delicious, very buttery and rich and smoky, but to be honest I would normally have it for lunch as it’s a bit much for breakfast!

Here’s one recipe.

12

Yes - as a breakfast item, it really belongs in the Edwardian period, when breakfasts consisted of a vast and frightening array of cooked, energy-dense foods.

13

Launce - normally a bait fish

Morgy - Dogfish.

14

Hugh Fearnley-Wossisname caught, cold-smoked and ate one of those in a recent series. He wasn’t impressed.

15

I would expect this to be fish pie: bits of fish in sauce covered with mashed potato, then baked.