Now, what could be more 'Leicestershire' than the humble pork pie? Another hunting food - created by local bakers as a portable snack to take out riding. Dickinson and Morris, the original pork pie shop, is still open in Melton Mowbray. Its website can be found here https://www.porkpie.co.uk/
Recent legislation has ensured that the name 'Melton Mowbray pork pie' is protected, and they can only be so called if they are made within 10 miles of Melton. Happy to say that our local butchers fits into this, and is now Melton pork pie certified. Very good they are, too. When you've had a pork pie so fresh that the jelly is still setting, you'll never go back to a shop bought one, I promise!
Megan loves pork pies - always has. I can still picture her at about 18 months old, stretching out her little fist in her highchair and calling "pip pie pees!" And yes, the name 'pip pie' has stuck - that's what we still call them at home. For her second birthday, I made a pork pie cake. A bit raggedy round the edges - but she recognised it for what it was supposed to be!
Now, when I first met Nigel he told me something I thought really odd - his family always had pork pie on toast for Christmas breakfast. I couldn't imagine how that would work, but he proceeded to show me the technique. It's sliced very thinly before being arranged on the toast. I did wonder if this was a French family oddity - until I plucked up the courage to ask our friendly local butcher. They confirmed that indeed, this is a local tradition, usually served with Picallili.
This site has some interesting facts about pork pie https://www.greatfoodclub.co.uk/how-to-make-a-melton-mowbray-pork-pie/ It confirms that pork pie is a Christmas breakfast tradition - farm labourers would have the luxury of eating the pork that they'd spent the year raising, while their masters tended to have swan or goose. Another source says that the tradition was started by DH Lawrence, who lived with his family in Nottinghamshire. Anyway, it is a tradition - my husband isn't as bonkers as I thought!
And so to the recipe...
Ingredients - Pastry
500g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
175g lard
1 egg, beaten
200mls water
Ingredients - Filling
1lb (450g) minced pork
3 rashers bacon, chopped finely
Seasoning
1 egg
Ingredients - Jelly
Pork stock
Leaf gelatine
Method
1. Begin by making the pastry. Now, I've written about hot water crust pastry before - it's a weird thing and seems to break all the rules of pastry making. But, easy when you know how. So, begin by mixing the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and mix in your beaten egg. Set aside. Then put your lard and water in a pan, and bring to a fast, bubbling boil. Tip into the flour, and stir well with a wooden spoon until all is combined to make a smooth dough. Tip the hot dough onto a plate, spread out with a spoon. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Then, knead well and put back onto the plate. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Note - this pastry doesn't need to be too cold, just enough to take the heat out of it. Too chilly and it will crack.
2. Meanwhile, make your filling by simply combining the pork and bacon, and stirring in the egg to combine. Season to taste. If you like, you can fry a small portion of the meat and then taste to check your seasoning.
3. When the pastry is ready, remove from the fridge and knead gently. Roll out into large discs (I used a large cake cutter, 12.5cm or 5" in diameter). You then need something to mould it round. Traditionally, you would use a traditional wooden 'dolly'- and this can be bought at Dickinson & Morris. However, I had to improvise so used ramekin dishes instead. Whatever you use, flour the mould lightly and then place in the centre of the pastry disc. Bring the pastry up around your mould, stretching gently to pull up the sides. Then, place your mould in the fridge for about half an hour - disc side up. This will allow your cases to firm slightly, so they don't flop when they come off the mould.
Then, gently ease the pie shell off the mould. Stand on a baking tray, and fill with your pork mixture - pushing it well into the sides. You want to fill about 3/4 of your shell. Finally, place a lid on top and crimp with your fingers to seal. Repeat until all the mixture is used (my recipe produced enough for 6 small pies and lids).
4. Put a small hole into the centre of your pie (This will enable you to add the jelly later)
5. When all the pies are complete, place back into the fridge to chill. Dickinson & Morris recommend leaving them overnight if possible,
6. Brush the tops lightly with egg before baking
7. Now for the fun bit! When the pies are almost cold, you need to add your jelly. Traditional recipes use pig trotters and ham bones, and while I could have picked these up from the butcher, for blog purposes I wanted to use something that most people would have at home. It was a bit experimental, but this is what I did... Took the pork stock left over from the Sunday roast, removing the top layer of fat. Then I took 2 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes until soft. When they are soft, you need to squeeze out as much water as possible before putting in to a pan with the stock. Warm gently - just to simmering point. Don't allow to boil, or it won't set as well.
To inject the jelly, I used a 5ml tipped medicine syringe (like this)...
... drew up the liquid and pushed through the hole. Each pie held 20-25 mls liquid before it started spilling back out of the top. As you can see - Megan enjoyed helping with this job...
All you need to do now is leave your pies for several hours (preferably overnight), to ensure the jelly is set.
So, here are my finished pies. They tasted pretty authentic - although the jelly virtually disappeared. I'm not sure what happened - maybe it soaked into the pastry. It meant they were a little dry, but a lovely friend gave me some of her homemade chutney to go with them - and that made up for it.
I'll definitely have a go at hand raised pies again - might even treat myself to one of those pie dollies. I know that a couple of places local to us do pork pie making sessions, so maybe I'll join one and pick up some tips. Watch this space!
