The pie’s filling is made from:
- cold trimmed calves’ head slices
- calve’s brain
- pickled tongue
- sweetbreads
- meat from the calf
- meat from a lamb
- slices of bacon
- hard-boiled eggs
This mixture is put in an oven-proof dish, covered with a top pie crust, baked, then let cool.
To serve, the crust is removed (sic), and the contents turned out onto a serving platter, garnished and served room temperature.
Literature & Lore
“DEVIZES PIE: Cut into very thin slices, after being dressed, cold calf’s head, with some of the brains, pickled tongue, sweetbreads, lamb, veal, a few slices of bacon, and hard-boiled eggs; put them in layers into a pie-dish, with plenty of seasoning between each, of cayenne, white pepper, allspice, and salt; fill up the dish with rich gravy; cover it with a flour-and-water paste; bake it in a slow oven, and when perfectly cold, take off the crust, and turn the pie out upon a dish; garnish it with parsley and pickled eggs cut into slices.”
— Catherine Emily Callbeck Dalgairns. The Practice of Cookery: Adapted to the Business of Every Day Life. London: Richard Griffin and Company. 1840.