Wednesday 30 July 2014

Pork Pie

I've tried making a raised pork pie in the past - lots of fiddling round moulding hot water crust pastry around a jar, then the inevitable collapse when the filling was packed in - too much faff for me. So when I saw a pork pie tin in my local branch of Lakeland I thought I'd treat myself and give it a try.

Being moulded to the inside of the tin, and them baked in it, the collapsing problem is eliminated. Problem solved.

I followed the recipe  provided with the tin, which uses a pastry made by melting lard in milk and then cooling it, much easier to handle than the traditional hot water crust. The filling is made by dicing pork (they suggest an equal mixture of fat and lean, so I used cheap shoulder steaks that I would have found too fatty for grilling) and bacon and mixing them with thyme, cayenne pepper and salt. It looked like a lot of filling, but packed firmly, it filled the tin perfectly level with the top.

After baking and cooling, jellied stock is poured through the hole in the top. They suggest either making pork stock or using ham stock with gelatine, but as I had some rather fine home made chicken stock I set that with gelatine instead.

I must say, it's the finest looking pie I've ever produced - and it tasted delicious too. Now I've tried it out using the "official" recipe I'll be doing some experimenting with it.




I'm joining in with #CookBlogShare - ooh, and I really must try that carrot and lentil tabbouleh that's featured there this week!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Now THAT is a pork pie. I am hugely impressed. So thick with gorgeous filling too. Must hunt down a pie tin

David Ford said...

I think there should be a law against producing and photographing food like this on the grounds of jealousy by the folk of East Sussex

Unknown said...

That is one gorgeous looking pork pie, I'm getting hungry now!

Unknown said...

I haven't attempted hot water crust but always wanted to give it a try. This really looks amazing! I must give your method of shaping it a go sounds much simpler than the whole jar business. Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare – check out the other entries on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/supergolden88/cookblogshare/
and Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107696809290414888934

Caroline Cowe said...

I had a picnic today and thought these would be great but didn't have the courage to try making one as they seem pretty hard! I'm very impressed with the way yours turned out. Thanks for sharing with Formula 1 Foods.