Make your own pork pie
Number of Servings
4
Preparation Time
20 mins
Cooking Time
1 hour
We love a good old fashioned pork pie and making your own is a fantastic way to add another recipe to your repertoire. Perfect for picnics, fast lunches and shared at gatherings they are wonderful served with a dollop of a punchy piccalilli.
Top Tip
Instead of making one large pork pie why not make smaller ones using a muffin tray. Pimp your pies by adding a handful of a strong cheese such as Stilton or crumbled black pudding instead of the bacon.
Ingredients
- For the water crust pastry
- 300g plain flour
- 100g lard
- 110ml water
- For the filling
- 500g pork shoulder diced
- 4 rashers back bacon finely diced
- 4 fresh sage leaves
- 1tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 150ml chicken broth
- 2 gelatin leaves
Method
- Chop the pork into cm size pieces then place into a bowl. Add the diced bacon, then finely chop the sage and add to the bowl along with the nutmeg, thyme and salt and pepper. Set aside.
- To make your water crust pastry, you need to heat the water and melt the lard, then combine. Sieve the flour into a large bowl, pour the lard and water mixture in and stir and knead until it forms a pastry. You need to do this whilst the mixture is warm so it’s pliable.
- Roll the pastry out to about 1cm in thickness. Lay the pastry into your pork pie mould and press into the sides. Cut off the excess and re-roll again to form the lid.
- Pack the meat into the pie and press down so that there’s no air pockets. Add the lid and crimp the sides to form a tight seal. Make a hole in the centre using the tip of your knife to allow the steam to escape whilst cooking.
- Egg wash the top and then bake for around an hour. Allow to cool then make your jelly.
- To make the jelly soften the gelatin in cold water and then add to your broth in a pan. Gently warm until the gelatin has completely dissolved. Using a funnel, pour the liquid through the hole until it just trickles out the top. Cool completely then tuck in, or store in the fridge for a couple of days.
