Most farmers would agree that there’s very little to beat the taste of a hot, nourishing pie for supper after a hard day’s work in the fields.
But you would have to be very hungry indeed to want to tuck into a rook pie. At least these days, when food trends and public taste are more sophisticated than ever. Yet it wasn’t so long ago that the glossy black-feathered birds regularly featured on farm workers’ dinner tables in the Cotswolds and hardly anyone batted an eyelid when a couple of plump rook breasts were cooked under a pastry lid. Older generations might remember hard times when rural families struggling to make ends meet couldn’t afford to be squeamish when it came to mealtimes. Rook was wholesome, plentiful and even if it wasn’t exactly to everybody’s taste, at least it was freely available. It’s no surprise that it came in to its own during wartime when rationing and the scarcity of fresh meat forced people to find more ingenious ways to feed their households. In 1940, even the letters page of The Times published requests for rook pie recipes.
Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Cotswold Life.
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Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Cotswold Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Gloucestershire After The War
Discovering the county’s Arts and Crafts memorials of the First World War
THE WILD SIDE OF Moreton-in-Marsh
The days are getting shorter but there’s plenty of reasons to be cheerful, says Sue Bradley, who discovers how a Cotswolds town is becoming more wildlife-friendly and pots up some bulbs for an insect-friendly spring display
Mr Ashbee would approve
In the true spirit of the Arts & Crafts Movement, creativity has kept the Chipping Campden community ticking over during lockdown
The Cotswolds at war
These might be peaceful hills and vales, but our contribution to the war effort was considerable
Trust in good, local food
‘I’ve been following The Country Food Trust’s activities with admiration since it was founded’
Why Cath is an open book
Cath Kidston has opened up almost every nook and cranny of her Cotswold idyll in a new book, A Place Called Home. Katie Jarvis spoke to Cath ahead of her appearance at this year’s Stroud Book Festival STROUD BOOK FESTIVAL – THIS YEAR FREE AND ONLINE: NOVEMBER 4-8
From the Cotswolds to the world
Most people know that the Cotswolds have featured in a fair few Hollywood movies and TV series.
The Wild Hunt
In search of the legendary King Herla in the Malvern Hills
Fighting spirit amid the flowers
Tracy Spiers visits Warwick, a beautiful town that is open for business and ready to welcome visitors
Final journey
Cheltenham author and volunteer on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR), Nicolas Wheatley, recounts the fascinating story of funeral trains