An old Wiltshire Christmas Pie recipe dated 1770 contained the following ingredients:
20 pounds of butter, 2 bushels of flour, 2 neats’ tongues, 2 turkeys, 4 geese, 4 wild ducks, 2 snipes, 2 woodcocks, 4 partridges, 2 curlews, 7 blackbirds, and 6 pigeons.
That’s quite a pie when you think about gathering some of the ingredients – no less than 33 birds!