an American term for a deep-dish pie of cooked fruit (often apple or peach) with a thick crust on top. This usage seems to date back to the 1850s. Mariani (1994), comments:
This dish is called Bird's nest pudding or ‘crow's nest pudding’ in New England; it is served with a custard but no topping in Connecticut, with maple sugar in Massachusetts, and with a sour sauce in Vermont.
Cobbler dough can also be used as a topping for stewed meat dishes.
Cobbler can also refer to a kind of mixed alcoholic drink, and that meaning was recorded earlier than the above one.
See also pandowdy.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Mariani, John (1994), The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, 2nd rev edn, New York: Hearst.
