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Traditional British Hand Raised Pork Pie

A Pork Pie is a grand English staple and no picnic or buffet table is complete without one!

Traditional Hand Raised Pork Pie Recipe

There is one undeniable truth about being an ‘migrant’ and that is ‘there are always foods that you miss’, and this pork pie recipe goes a long way to fill that gap.  It is a good thing though, let’s face it the global food scene would be much more boring if those that traveled assimilated into eating exactly the same as locals do.

Over a period of time I have found that those desires do wain a little, however as a cook many hours were spent trying to fill those gaps, whether they be the desires for food bought to the UK by waves of Asian migrants or in this case something much more ‘British’.

A pork pie is a grand English staple that no picnic or buffet table is complete without and the debate of whether you like the jelly will forever rumble on but it is something that both myself and my wife love.  The first time I attempted to make my own was in our second year hear and I made a large one with a candle in it instead of a birthday cake for my wife.

Now that may sound a little harsh and not very glamorous, but neither of us have a sweet tooth and any cakes we do make tend to go to wast. As a result the Pork Pie was very much appreciated.  Having said that it was not the greatest, however as time has progressed I have honed my recipe and my ‘hand raising’ technique has improved greatly. My jelly has also got a lot better although I sometimes still struggle to get it completely surrounding the meat.

Technically this pork pie recipe is probably the most time consuming thing that I make and as such it is certainly a ‘special occasion’ dish as I reckon you need at least 2 days to get it right and then you cannot eat until day 3 and it gets even better on days 4 & 5.

But if you are blessed with good quality pork as we are give it a try, taste wise it wipes the floor with anything you get from anywhere but the finest of butchers and achievement wise it will have you feeling smug and very proud of yourself for weeks!

Traditional Hand Raised Pork Pie Recipe

Bonus Sausages!!!

I can understand if you do not want to go to the time and effort to make your own Pork Pies, lets face it I only spent the time required to learn how to do it as shipping them from the UK really was not and enviable or viable option…

However there is a wee bonus with this recipe, if you take the filling for the pie add a further 200g of pork belly or other fatty pork and 180g of bread crumbs or crushed rolled oats you end up with a really great sausage mix, don’t let anyone telly you that good sausages have no ‘cereal content.

Ok I am assuming you own a meat grinder but mince up all of the meat on the large setting and don’t worry about the size of the dice, mix in the breadcrumbs, herbs, salt and pepper.

Then use your meat grinder to push into sausage skins, if you can’t get sausage skins use it as a stuffing or form into patties either way they are very very tasty!  So there you go, who knew you could take a pork pie recipe and turn it into a breakfast sausage?

Traditional Hand Raised Pork Pie Recipe
Yield: 1 Pie

Hand Raised Pork Pie Recipe

Prep Time: 1 day 22 hours
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 days

I'm struggling to think of a time when a nice slice of a good hand-raised pork pie is not appropriate... And nope, I can't think of one, you need this in your life!

Ingredients

For the Jelly

  • 1 Pigs trotter, Split in two
  • 1 kg Pork bones
  • 2 Onions
  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 Celery Stalks
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 6 Pepper Corns
  • Salt to Taste

For the Pastry

  • 50 g Lard
  • 50 g Butter
  • 100 ml Water
  • 250 g Plain flour
  • 1/2 Tsp salt
  • 1 Egg Yolk

For the Filling

  • 500 g Blade
  • 150 g Pork Shoulder
  • 150 g Smoked cured pork
  • 10 Sage Leaves
  • 1 Tsp Salt
  • 1 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Tsp Ground Mace
  • 1/4 Tsp Hot Paprika
  • 1/4 Tsp Sweet Paprika
  • 1 Tsp English Mustard
  • 1 Egg

Instructions

Day 1

  1. Roughly chop the carrots and celery into 2.5-3cm chunks.
  2. Cut the onions into quarters.
  3. Add the pork bones and pigs trotter toa roasting tin.
  4. Add in the vegetables and roast at 200C or 400F for 30 minutes.
  5. Place the butter lard and water for the pastry into a pan and place on a medium heat.
  6. Heat until the butter and lard have just melted, do not boil.
  7. Add the flour, salt and egg to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with a dough hook.
  8. Pour in the warm water and fat mix whilst still mixing.
  9. Mix for 5 minutes, this should form a pretty stick dough that should just pull away from your fingers.
  10. Wrap this dough in cling film and refrigerate overnight.
  11. The bones should not be browned and caramelised.
  12. Transfer to a large stockpot and compress.
  13. Pour over just enough water to cover.
  14. Add a generous sprinkling of salt, the peppercorns and bay leaves.
  15. Simmer for 4 hours on low.
  16. Drain the stock and pass through a fine-mesh sieve.
  17. Taste and add more salt if required.
  18. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge overnight.

Day 2

  1. Dice all of the pork into a 5-6mm dice.
  2. Mix all of the ingredients for the filling together.
  3. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut off 1 quarter.
  4. Roll both into spheres and then roll both pieces of pastry into circles 7-8mm thick.
  5. Use your fist as a mould to form the pie base.
  6. Gather pork filling and throw it into the bowl of pastry, the pressure of 'throwing' in the pork mix should give you the flat bottom and bowed side look.
  7. Add the using the beaten egg to stick it into place whilst crimping the edge between your thumb and forefinger.
  8. Pierce the lid in the centre with the tip of a knife and make a second hole at the side near the crimp.
  9. Place into the oven and bake at 180°C or 350°F for 30 minutes.
  10. Then reduce the temperature to 150°C or 300°F and bake for another 1.5 hours.
  11. Take out of the oven and brush with the beaten egg and return for a final 15 minutes.
  12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
  13. Whilst the pie is cooling heat the jellified stock until it becomes liquid.
  14. Pour the stock into the hole in the centre of the pie until it will take no more. You will have more than enough stock!
  15. Cool completely and then transfer to the fridge and be patient, peak taste is after 3 days!

Notes

Calorific value refers to a single whole pie.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 5504Total Fat: 309gSaturated Fat: 122gTrans Fat: 3gUnsaturated Fat: 159gCholesterol: 1747mgSodium: 5474mgCarbohydrates: 255gFiber: 21gSugar: 20gProtein: 405g

Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.

Did you make this recipe?

If you made this recipe, I'd love to see what you did and what I can do better, share a picture with me on Instagram and tag me @krumplibrian and tell me how it went!

sue | theviewfromgreatisland

Sunday 4th of March 2018

I miss pork pies from my one year in London, this is fabulous! And I have made my own sausage, but only pattie style, I need to go the whole way and try the casings, they look incredible.

Brian Jones

Monday 5th of March 2018

Sausages are definitely not as difficult to make as people make them out to be... Take your time and they are real simple.

Allison

Sunday 4th of March 2018

I have never heard of this before. It sounds very interesting. I would love to try it!

Brian Jones

Monday 5th of March 2018

A real British staple :)

Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry

Sunday 4th of March 2018

I love a good pork pie - they're such an English staple. Will definitely have to give this a try

Brian Jones

Monday 5th of March 2018

Thank you.

Natalie

Sunday 4th of March 2018

This pie looks so decadent! I never had pork pie before, but it really makes me wanna try as it looks simply delicious and comforting.

Brian Jones

Monday 5th of March 2018

Thanks Natalie.

Laurie Higgs

Thursday 30th of July 2015

My husband's family is from England and I was lucky enough to get his grandmother's recipe for pork pie. I can hardly wait to make the sausage for him. Thank you for the recipe.

Brian Jones

Friday 31st of July 2015

You are welcome Laurie, hope you enjoy :)

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