Michael Hurley Illustrates the Piebird

After I heard back from Michael Hurley about my post on his pie-themed songs and art, I asked him if he might be interested in contributing a post to the blog. He sent in this photo he took in Richmond, Virginia, circa 1995:

and included this note:

hi Emily,

here's a pic for the pie blog. it illustrates the use of the piebird, a ceramic inserted in the pie which spouts the juices as a venting function. we used to do pies with these piebirds and here is one cooling from the oven.

alla

michael

He said that he ordered them from a Tennessee general store catalog, and was glad that I was a piebird keeper. I must admit, though I own two pie birds, a black bird (like the one pictured at right) and a sparrow, I've never actually used them in a pie, always thinking that I'd rather keep in the steam and juice as much as possible. I think the bottom of my oven has suffered as a result; I might need to try my piebird soon...