Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

I've always liked pork pies - they're a frequent Christmas morning breakfast at my dad's house eaten with a little mustard - but have never got around to making one. HFW's Meat book and a few conversations on food forums finally gave me the kick in the backside I needed. 

There are a couple of types of pork pie.  Your general pork pie contains both cured and uncured pork and due to the cured meat the filling remains pink (like bacon) when cooked.  A Melton Mowbray pork pie, amongst other things, only uses uncured pork and so the filling doesn't stay bright pink, turning the more usual grey pink colour of cooked pork.  The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association have been trying to get the pies protected status (much like Stilton) and they finally succeeded recently.  If you want to see the official application you can read it here - quite an interesting read it is too.

As much as I love cured pork your standard pork pie just can't compare with the Melton Mowbray pie's story and so here is where I headed.  Taking some points from the protected status application I altered the recipe from HFW's Meat book to something I hope can be called a Melton Mowbray.  I didn't budget for differing pastry for free standing versus tinned pies though and so the pastry dough was too soft for a standing pie really.  As such the recipe below shows what I did, next time I will just add a 100ml of water though and see how that feels.  I'd suggest you do the same really.

12/12/08 The 100ml of water has been tried out by a reader who confirmed it worked well, from now on for freestanding pies I'm going to use 100ml too, saving the 200ml for tinned pies.  I've updated the recipe below accordingly

Soft pastry aside the pies were still fantastic.  Not overly herby (a positive for me), just a good strong taste of pepper which with both white and black pepper used isn't surprising.  The pastry was good, if not a little thick, and the jelly tasty.  How tasty will depend upon the stock used though.  You want one with a strong flavour so may want to pep it up with a cube or some powder.

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, 2 medium pies

Filling

375gr shoulder or leg of pork
375gr belly pork
1 ts salt
1/2 ts black pepper
1/2 ts white pepper
1/2 ts ground sage
Pinch of dried thyme
1/4 ts ground mace

Jelly

2 pigs trotters
1 carrot
1 onion
A few black peppercorns
1 litre of pork or chicken stock

Pastry

100gr lard
100gr butter
200ml of water if you're going to cook in a tin / 100ml of water if cooking freestanding
550gr plain flour
1 1/2 ts salt
2 medium eggs, plus 1 for glazing.

Method

For the jelly put everything in a saucepan and simmer for 3 hours, it should reduce to maybe 300ml and set to jelly when cold.

Melt the butter and lard in a saucepan with the water, you only want to warm it up, not boil it.  Add the salt to the flour, break in the eggs and mix into a dough with the water and fat.  Knead till smooth, wrap in clingfilm and then put in the fridge for an hour.

Another important feature of a Melton Mowbray pie is the meat is coarsely textured, chopped up rather than minced so next step is to get chopping.  Aim for small pieces, maybe 5mm - 10mm, and once chopped add all the other filling ingredients and mix well.  With any seasoned mix that's going to be cooked in a lump - like pate and sausages - it's wise to fry up a teaspoonful to check the seasoning.  Better to know now when you can do something about it.

Cut the pastry in half and then remove a third (for the lids) from each half.  To shape the bottoms make the dough into a ball and then push a large jar (preferably at least 8cm diameter) down into it, pulling the dough up around the sides.  Wobble the jar free and then put half the meat mixture in it.  Roll out a lid and place on top, sealing the edges with crimps.  Repeat for the second pie.

Place the pies in a roasting dish, cut a hole in the top of each and then glaze them well with beaten egg.

Cook for 30 minutes at 180 C then turn to 160 C and give another 20 - 30 minutes.

Allow to cool a bit then pour the jellied stock into the pies through the hole in the top till full.  Once cold put in the fridge.

Enjoy.

Comments

[Ginger]

Wow, that looks brilliant. I've been wanting to do this for ages but it seems like such a huge undertaking. I have to admit to being a bit scared of the trotters too.

[Joshua Armstrong]

I was pleased with how it turned out.

You can always get around the pig's trotters by using gelatine instead. Not sure on quantities but I'm sure the pack would say how much you need for a volume of liquid.

[Helen]

Wow! This looks fantastic! I have always wanted to make a pork pie yet have never ot around to it. I think I will follow your lead and make one for Christmas!