PORK PIE

In Nigel Slater’s introduction to the Pork Pie in his article for Guardian he observes:-
“it has never really occurred to me to make my own pork pie. I mean, why would anyone want to, with so many good ones around in the shops? You can’t walk more than a hundred yards down the average high street without coming upon a perfectly acceptable version.”   That is unless you live in France. We are both Pork Pie fanatics, so since moving to France we have been well and truly deprived. Enjoying the odd Pork pie treat when on a visit to the UK.  Try it with PICCALILLI

1kg boned pork shoulder
250g natural lardons
2 bushy sprigs of thyme
2 sage leaves
½ teaspoon ground mace
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 good pinches ground nutmeg

For the pastry:

200g lard
220g water
575gflour
1 beaten egg
1 x 20cm cake tin

For the stock:

2 pig’s trotters
1 onion cut in half
1 small carrot cut into three
1 small bunch of parsley stalks
2 or 3 sticks of celery halved
6 black peppercorns

METHOD

For the filling

Chop half the pork into small cubes, about 5mm in size. chop half the lardon. Take the other half of the pork, and half of the lardons and whizz them both in a food processor. The different textures really helps in the final mix. Remove the thyme leaves from their stems, add the sage leaves and chop both finely. Mix the herbs into the chopped meats together with the mace, white pepper, nutmeg and 1 teaspoon each of salt and coarsely ground black pepper.

For the pastry

Put the lard and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Sift the flour with a good pinch of salt into a large bowl. Pour the hot lard and water into the flour, mix with a wooden spoon, then leave until cool enough to handle.

The pastry must be warm when you start to work it.

Preheat the oven at 180C

Lightly grease and flour your mould or cake tin (with removable bottom). Pull off a quarter of the pastry and roll it into a lid that will fit the top of the cake tin. Roll the remaining pastry to fit the base of the tin. Lay it on the bottom, then firmly push the dough up the sides with your hands. It should spread quite easily. If it slides down, leave it to cool a bit more. Make certain there are no holes or tears. This is crucial, as the jelly will leak out. Spoon the pork filling into the lined cake tin and press it down. It should come almost to the top of the pastry, you do need space for the delicious jelly.

Brush the edges of the pastry above the meat with beaten egg. Lower the lid into place and press tightly to seal with the edges. Poke a small hole in the lid to let out the steam and put the tin on a baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 160C and bake for 90 minutes until the pastry is pale gold.

Brush with the beaten egg and return to the oven for 30 minutes.

For the stock

Put the Pigs trotters into a deep saucepan with the onion, carrot, parsley stalks and the celery sticks Cover with water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and leave the liquid to cook for an hour, watching the water level carefully and topping up where necessary.

Remove from the heat, decant the liquid into a bowl and leave to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

If it has set very firmly, simply remove the fat from the top of the stock, transfer to a saucepan and bring to the boil. If it is still on the runny side, then remove the fat as before, pour into a saucepan and boil hard until it is reduced to about 400ml. Season carefully with salt.When the pie is ready, pour the stock into a jug and then pour it carefully through the hole in the top of the pastry. A funnel is invaluable here.

Leave the pie to cool, then refrigerate overnight.

Original recipe by Nigel Slater The Guardian