What's a Pie Bird?

In the photo that accompanied last week's "turkey pie" post, you'll notice that there was a little blackbird head emerging from the centre of the pie; it was there for a reason. A pie bird, pie vent, pie whistle, pie funnel, or pie chimney is a hollow ceramic device, traditionally shaped like a bird. Pie birds are steam vents that have been placed in the center of fruit and meat pies (while cooking) since Victorian times, if not before. They prevent the pie from boiling over in the oven by allowing the steam to escape from inside the pie. They also support the pastry crust in the center of the pie, so that it does not sag in the middle, and are hence also known as "crustholders". Traditionally they were most often made in the shape of a bird or an inverted funnel with arches on the bottom for the steam to enter, but they have always been produced in a multitude of designs.

The nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" refers to "Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie; when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing" but it is uncertain whether pie vents were designed to look as birds because of this song, or whether pie vents in fact existed earlier and the song was a reference to them. The Oxford English Dictionary comments that the word pie itself (in the culinary sense) may be connected with 'pie' as the name of a variety of birds, in particular the magpie. (Source: Wikipedia).

Of course, one doesn't actually need a pie bird to make a great pie. You can simply cut some slits in the top crust before baking to allow the built-up steam to escape.