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When Ton mentioned the difficulty of getting them for Grumps I thought I would try. These are hand made 'raised' pies, but they could be done in muffin tins - easier.




Filling.
450g belly pork pulsed to a coarse mince in a food processor
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1Tbs fresh breadcrumbs
pinch of mace
pinch of nutmeg

Hot water crust pastry
450g plain flour
150g lard
50ml milk
50ml water
salt and pepper
beaten egg for sealing the lids and glazing

Jelly
1/2 stock cube
1/2 sachet of 2 leafs of gelatine
250ml hot water

Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl and divide into balls for as many pies as you want to make - it should do up to about eight. Line these up on the worktop.

Place the flour in a bowl with a shake of salt and pepper. Heat the lard, milk and water till the lard has melted - do not boil. Working quickly pull it all together using a wooden spoon then get your hand in an knead it to form a thick paste. Make sure it gets to the stage where it holds together without cracking. Roll it out into a sausage shape about 3" - 75mm in diameter. Cut the rounded ends off then divide the sausage into two more pieces than the number of pies to be made - six pies = eight pieces. Place all the pieces back in the pan the lard etc. was heated in - the residual heat will keep them warm.

Take a piece of the pastry and roll it out slightly larger than the muffin tray mould. Press it in then draw the sides up so that they are 1/4" - 5mm above the level of the tray. Place a ball of filling in the pastry and push to the sides to fill the case but only to the level of the tray. Take another piece of pastry and roll out a lid slightly larger than the mould and cut a hole in the centre with an apple corer. Brush the inner lip of the case in the tray with beaten egg and place the lid on top. Crimp the edge to seal the pie. Continue till all pies are made.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C or 180c fan for 40 to 45 mins or until golden brown. Remove the pies from the tray and leave to cool on a rack. While they are still warm, but have cooled own - 20 mins or so - make the jelly stock and pour into the pies till they can hold no more, now leave to go cold.

Thanks for that Frank, but mace? lard?

I might be able to get a Portuguese version of lard, which I've used for another dish, I'll have to ask.

Grumpy will say thank you, once I've done 'em

I can send you mace. Not sure I can send you lard.

Just don't get the mace muddled up with the powder I was going to send you

Any news on that?

Can't find it here MM - but the spray I've bought has done the trick, so no probs. Thanks for trying xxx

Ton, leave the mace out, it is only a slightly more piquant version of nutmeg - same plant. You could possibly try a v. small pinch of sage.

If lard is a problem then any shortening - fat solid at room temp - should do: Stork or Spry.

I forgot to mention not to fill the uncooked pies with too much meat. It will shrink a bit as it cooks but there needs to be space for the gorgeous jelly. Oh, and glaze the tops with beaten egg before cooking.

Mmmmmm. Was that the practice batch for The Meet.

I'm looking foward to them already.

Yum yum.

Make your own!

I had a warm one as a late tea, I gave one to the couple downstairs and I have had one for lunch. Two left. I had to make them as stand pies in the Mowbray fashion, that is why they are so big - good for two sharing! I am going to have to get a deep muffin tray to do a batch.

The crust is a crisp bake type and the filling is just simple pork pie flavoured. I have to say they are pretty damned tasty.

I've made them, very similar to yours Wm, they were lovely too
Muffin trays are good, I've done them hand-raised and in a muffin tin, I must say i loved working with hot-water crust
Delia has a recipe, more or less like yours
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuis ... -pies.html

Well, Di, the meat mix came from something on local TV a long time back. A butcher in Otley had become pork pie champ and his 'secret' was to keep it simple - pork, a bit of seasoning, breadcrumbs and a pinch of spice. The recipe for the jelly he was guarding with his life.

I watched a video on youtube on hand raising pies and working the hot water crust was a dream, but getting small cases was beyond my thumbs and fingers - hence the big pies.

I think when I did them I used jars. You stand the jar on the pastry and bring it up the sides
You can of course use pigs trotters for the jelly