Recipe || Homemade Pork Pie (+ GIVEAWAY)
Today’s recipe is for a homemade pork pie. Well, in fact, two homemade pork pies.
I was actually making these for one of my colleague’s husbands in place of a birthday cake for him. You might remember that for Adam’s birthday, I made him the very same thing, and seeing as Steve is also more of a savoury fan than a cake lover, Marcia in our accounts team asked if I’d mind baking this porky treat for him.
The reason there were two is mostly because I have a beautiful Victorian pie mould that my mum bought me for Christmas last year, but as I discovered, the recipe actually makes a lot more than the mould could take – so two pork pies were born!
Not really personally liking hot water crust pastry, or in fact pork pies in general, the first time I’d ever made it by hand was for my game pie in the bake off bake along 2015. It turns out, even though I’m not partial to eating them, I do enjoy the process of baking with it, and it’s a fun pastry to work with. I’d definitely recommend getting your seal really tight around the lid though, to avoid the liquid splurging out of the top and dribbling down the sides like mine did…on both…hmphhh.
However, the extra special thing about this recipe was that I got to try out the iconic Joseph Joseph Nest 9 set which pretty much has everything you could need for baking – a big bowl, colander, sieve, small bowl with a spout and a series of measuring cups. I love Joseph Joseph’s design, and I was so excited to try these when they arrived. Since this bake, I actually think I’ve used at least one of them in pretty much every meal, so it goes to show!! Plus, to win your own set, they’ve been kind enough to offer the chance for one of my readers to get their hands on one – see the giveaway details below!
The recipe for the pork pie has been taken from the good old BBC Food website, and has worked really well for me on multiple occasions!
For the filling
- 800g pork shoulder, minced or finely chopped (if yours comes with the rind on, pop it in the oven to make crackling!)
- 400g pork belly, half minced and half chopped
- 250g smoked bacon, cubed
- ½ tsp ground mace
- 2 large pinches ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped sage
- 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
For the pastry
- 575g plain flour
- 200g lard
- 220ml water
To finish
- 1 egg, beaten
- 6 gelatine leaves
- 300ml chicken stock
Method
- Mince up your pork shoulder, and half your belly pork. Having a bit of fat left on is ok, it will melt and make your meat juicy once it’s cooked. However, if you’ve got the ring still, slice this off and score, oil and season it, then roast in the oven until crispy for a nice slice of crackling. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Once the meat is prepared, measure out your spices herbs and seasoning, and mix thoroughly with the meat.
- To make the pastry, in a medium to large pan, heat the water and then melt the lard into it.
- Sift the flour into the water and lard and mix thoroughly with a spoon.
- Whilst it’s melting is a good time to thoroughly grease your springform tin/pastry mould/bread tin…etc
- Leave for a few seconds until it’s cool enough to handle and then knead the dough until it is smooth.
- You’ll have to work quickly on this bit as you want to work your dough whilst it’s warm and pliable. Using your hands, press 2/3 of your dough into the bottom of your mould and up the sides. It’s easy to work with whilst it’s warm and you should be able to get it even and reasonably thin.
- Using the other 1/3, make the lid for your pie, saving a little for decorations if you fancy (why I went for the word “PORK” rather than Steve, I have no idea…!)
- Crimp the edges of your pie really well, I’d left mine a bit late, hence it not being a decent seal and the juices running out of the top down the sides.
- To allow steam to escape, you’ll also need to make a little hole in the top.
- Pop your pie in the oven for 30 mins, then reduce the temp to 160 degrees Celsius and cook for a further 90 minutes . Then, take your pork pie out, brush all over with a beaten egg and pop it back in the oven for another 20 mins. Once it’s out, leave it until it’s completely cold (preferably overnight I’d say)
- The next day, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water and heat the chicken stock in a pan until almost boiling, then squeeze out your gelatine, and add to the stock, stirring the whole time. One the stock is cool, carefully pour into the hole in the top of your pie, a little at a time. You’ll know when the pie is full, and then all you have to do is leave it to set – probably a few hours.
- This pork pie recipe is quite a big one, so if you’re not keen to eat 10 portions, you could quite easily half it. I reckon the ingredients cost me all in all about £6 and that was buying the pork from my local independent butcher.
Do you know anyone who’d rather a pork pie for their birthday than a cake? Or, perhaps it’s a good one to make your Dad for father’s day? How about trying it out using your very own Joseph Joseph Nest bowl set?! Enter the giveaway below to win one!
***This post was in collaboration with Steamer Trading, but all porky thoughts and delights were my own***
