A very happy St Piran's Day to all Cornish members!

Happy St Piran's Day! Eat more pasties!

Oooh thanks very much everyone!Pasties and scrumpy all round. I actually steer away from the Stargazy Pie. Does anyone like it?

I'm Cornish by descent and for years I regarded myself as a Londoner by adoption, but I've never had the courage to tackle stargazy pie or jellied eels. The best scrumpy, however, is pure nectar.

I like fish but I'm not all that keen on fish pies in general, partly because they often contain hardboiled egg - and a fish pie that not only includes boiled eggs but where the fish actually look at me avoiding the egg as though I'm a faddy cowardy cat... nope, the Cornish can keep that even if it's Rick Stein cooking it.

Did someone say scrumpy? Hic!

I saw my first fish pie with the fish staring up at me,w ith the head sticking out one side of the crust and the tail the other, when I was 8 or 9. I thought it was the funniest thing I ever saw. I kept poking at the eyes to see if they would move or close. It grossed my mother out, who was trying to eat the pie. It didn't help matters that my little brother was sitting next to her and flapping the fish's tail.

It's a good thing there wasn't a boiled egg in that pie. Knowing us, we would have used the egg for a game of volleyball.

What a lovely family , Mira Jane!Yes it's the eyes that definitely have it, Yuk. Second worst on the list is Rick Stein himself , pretentious fake Cornishman that he is.Bet he doesnt know how to make a real pasty, not like my grans.
I would say that we excel with the clotted cream,(My Grans again was superb)the pasty, the scrumpy and the saffron buns.

I'm betraying my ignorance here (English ancestry notwithstanding) but what in the world is stargazy pie?

It's a fish pie, using pastry (not mashed potato like many fish pies) but the main ingredient is pilchards (i.e. sardines that have grown up). The fish are gutted, and boned, but the heads, and sometimes tails, are left on. Jane Grigson supplied a recipe here which is a fairly tradional one but some people, instead of stuffing the fish, make a sauce with the filling ingredients, mustard (hot, spicy English mustard), creme fraiche, and heaven knows what. The key thing is that the heads of the fish poke out between the layers of pastry as though the fish are gazing at the sky. No one knows for sure where the name comes from but that's as good a definition as any. Some people also leave the tails poking out but that's not traditional.

It's a fish pie, usually made with pilchards although it can contain any small fish you like. The fish are baked whole in the pie with their heads poking through the crust ("gazing at the stars"). It's a traditional speciality of Cornwall.

Thanks for the explanations, and all I can say is the next time I visit Cornwall I will avoid that dish like the plague!