Pork pie -- Scottish Ex-Pat's Blether Bar & Grill

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Date Posted: 21:03:56 03/15/11 Tue
Author: Norrie
Subject: Pork pie
In reply to: Norrie 's message, "pies" on 06:45:48 03/12/11 Sat

This is the Pork Pie recipe I've used for years, it's a wee bit footery but once you've found your way round it you'll never buy another. Norrie

Pork pies

Makes: 1 x 500g pie and 4 x 300g pies
Cook: 2 hours plus cooling
Ingredients
For the jellied stock:
Bones from the meat used to make the filling or chicken carcass
1 pig�s trotter
1 large carrot stuck with 3 cloves
1 quartered, unpeeled onion
Herb bundle: thyme, bay leaf, sage and rosemary, 6 peppercorns
2 litres water
For the pork pie filling:
250g rindless smoked back bacon
800g boned shoulder of pork or spare ribs with approximately quarter fat to three-quarters lean
1 tbsp finely chopped sage
� tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
1 tbsp anchovy sauce/paste
For the hot-water crust:
500g plain flour
� tsp salt
250ml water
175g lard
1 egg

You will also need baking parchment
Method
Begin this recipe 48 hours before you plan to eat the pies. Start with the stock. Put all ingredients into a pan and simmer for 3 to 4 hours steadily. Strain off the stock into a clean pan, cool then chill overnight and remove the thick layer of white fat. Simmer the stock until you have about 600ml. Cool then refrigerate until required. This liquid will set to a firm jelly, and is much better than the stock plus gelatine recommended in some pie recipes.
To make the pie filling, finely dice four bacon rashers and some of the best bits of pork; you will always get a better texture if the meat is finely chopped rather than minced. Then mince the rest of the pork and bacon together (or ask the butcher to do it for you). The bacon, incidentally, improves the colour of the pie on account of the saltpetre: without it the filling would look rather grey when the pie is cut.
Add the seasonings � the anchovy gives a savoury saltiness without a hint of fishiness � and diced meat and mix thoroughly. Fry a small amount and taste to see if adjustments are needed. Chill, covered, until required.
To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Bring water and lard to the boil. This happens very quickly with a lot of spluttering, so watch out. Stir then tip it into the flour, mixing deftly with a wooden spoon. Quickly form into a smooth dough with your hands. Leave to cool slightly.
You can make a pork pie any size you like, just allow an equal weight of meat to pastry. For a 500g pie, take 250g pastry, setting aside 50g for the lid. Put the ball of pastry in a 500g pork pie or cake tin, with a removable base. Quickly and lightly push the pastry up the sides of the tin, being careful to leave no cracks. If the pastry collapses down into a dismal heap, it is a little too hot, so wait and try again. Having raised the crust, loosely pack with 250g meat slackened with 2 tbsp warm jellied stock. Roll the lid, lay inside the raised walls and pinch and trim together leaving a 1cm collar/seal. Use a small sharp knife to cut out a central hole the size of shirt button.
For small free-form pies, you will need 125g pastry, 25g of which is for the lid. Put the pastry in your left hand (if right- handed) and use thumb and fingers of the right hand to raise a wall, turning constantly with your left hand, pressing, pushing and raising a �cup�. The walls will gape out, so use right hand thumb and fingers to pinch the top together in little pleats and use this new thickness to continue raising; you need the wall to go 1cm higher than the filling. Fill with 125g meat slackened with 1 tbsp warm stock. Roll the lid, lay inside the wall and pinch together to seal, leaving a 1cm collar. Tie a 5cm fold of baking parchment around the pies rising slightly taller than the lid.
Place the pies on a baking sheet. Heat the oven to 200F/gas mark 6. Bake for 30 minutes then lower the heat to 170C/gas mark 3 and leave for a further hour for the large pie, 1 hour for small pies.
Remove the pies from the oven. Stand the tin on a jam jar to remove the casing (or untie the brown paper bands) and peel off the base. Brush the sides with beaten egg and return to the oven for 10 minutes or so to give a glossy sheen. Rest the pies on a cake rack to cool. Pour warm jellied stock through the central hole using a tiny kitchen funnel or a cone of cardboard. Top up several times as it disappears into the pie.
Leave the pies for 24 hours before eating; they keep, covered, in the fridge for a week. Serve with English mustard and pickles.

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Replies:

Re: Pork pie -- Ani, 23:09:56 03/15/11 Tue
- Re: Pork pie -- BB, 01:14:36 03/16/11 Wed
Re: Pork pie -- Gilly, 19:02:15 03/16/11 Wed