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For the hot water crust pastry

For the filling

For the jelly

  • 1 gelatine leaf
  • 500ml pot good-quality chicken stock
    reduced to 200ml with 2 bay leaves

To serve

  • choice of strong British cheese
    - cheddar, Stilton, Caerphilly, etc
  • choice of pickle
    - piccalilli, tomato, onions, apple chutney, etc
  • simple rustic bread
    preferably sourdough
  • simple salad
    with radish, cherry tomatoes or celery

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal507
  • fat35g
  • saturates15g
  • carbs27g
  • sugars1g
  • fibre2g
  • protein21g
  • salt1.2g
    low

Method

  • step 1

    Heat oven 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment. For the filling, roughly chop the meat in a food processor – you should have minced pieces and chunkier bits. Alternatively, chop all the meat by hand. Mix through the spices, sage and some seasoning. Chill until needed.

  • step 2

    Soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 mins until soft while you reheat the stock. Squeeze out excess water from the gelatine and dissolve in the stock. Transfer to a jug and leave to cool at room temperature.

  • step 3

    For the pastry, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and place the egg yolk on top. Gently heat the lard, butter and 75ml water in a saucepan. Once boiling, pour into the flour mix, stirring vigorously until well combined. Leave to cool briefly before forming into smooth dough. Cover with cling film.

  • step 4

    Roll out two-thirds of the pastry to a rough rectangle about 0.5cm thick. Lay the pastry into a 900g loaf tin and press evenly into the sides, making sure you leave some overhanging. You can patch up any holes with spare pastry. Fill with the pork mixture and roll the remaining pastry so that it is large enough to cover the pie. Brush the edges with beaten egg, drape over the lid and crimp to seal. Cut off any excess pastry (this extra can be used to decorate the top). Brush with more egg and make a hole to let steam escape. Bake for 45 mins until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin before removing. Chill for a few hrs. Pour jelly into the chilled pie through the steam hole using a funnel. Chill in the fridge for a few hrs more (preferably overnight) until the jelly is set.

  • step 5

    Build your ploughman’s on large plates or wooden boards. Serve the pie cut into slices with your choice of cheese, pickle, bread and a simple salad.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2013

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Comments, questions and tips (11)

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Overall rating

A star rating of 5 out of 5.5 ratings

Breeliant

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Made this and came out perfectly, everyone was also very impressed, and will never buying shop bought again! (also didn't make the jelly as it isn't popular in my family, and it still worked)

Erland41

Increase the amount of pastry. Then you can do without the edges of the rolled pastry which always splits with pastry this short..

Bananarama55

question

I would really love to try this recipe!! It looks and sounds heavenly!! How do I convert it to U.S. measurements? And where would I find the gelatin, would an online store be my best choice?

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

Thanks for your question. We would suggest using an online converter to change this recipe to US measurements. We have a converter which will change metric to imperial. This is great for converting weights. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/conversion-guides#volume-conversion (Be aware that when…

PatK

question

Whenever I make a pie like this, the pastry always seems to stick to the filling and I can't pour any stock in, any suggestions please as a pie without the jelly is no pie at all!

goodfoodteam avatar
goodfoodteam

Hi there, sorry to hear you're having difficulties with your pork pie making. It's important that you use the size tin specified in the recipe and that you leave the cooked pie to cool before adding the stock and gelatine mixture. It might seem like there isn't any room but once the pork has cooked…

melandcarol

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Made this pie yesterday, and its excellent. As ever I used the pastry when it was still a little too warm - so it was more difficult to roll and fit to the loaf tin - but its still worked well. With the mix of butter and lard the pastry is richer than a basic lard mix, but is very tasty and quite…

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