Stargazy pie white fish will work for the filling, with pilchards or herring just added for the presentation. Prior to putting it in the pie the fish should be skinned and boned (except the head and tail) to make it easier to eat. Along with the fish, the other traditional ingredients are thickened milk, eggs and boiled potatoes. There are many recipe variations around the traditional ingredients, some of which include hard-boiled eggs, bacon, onion, mustard or white wine. Other alternatives to the main fish can be crayfish and rabbit or mutton. The stargazy pie is always topped with a pastry lid,
Battalia pie Dictionary, "Cocks-combs, Goose-gibbets, Ghizzards, Livers, and other Appurtenances of Fowls (1706)". It is not connected with Italian "battaglia", battle, but it was regularly confused with that meaning, and battalia pies were built with crenellated battlements around the edges, and sometimes as castles complete with towers. The 1658 cookery book "The Compleat Cook" by "W. M." gives an early recipe for battalia pie: In his 1660 cookery book "The Accomplisht Cook", Robert May gives a recipe "To make a Bisk or Batalia Pie", which instructs: John Nott's 1723 "The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary" gives a recipe for battalia pie with fish: