167. RAISED PORK PIE with BACON

serves 10


For the fillings:
1.2kg boned pork shoulder
8oz lean bacon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
½ teaspoon each ground mace, freshly grated nutmeg and ground allspice
2 teaspoons anchovy essence
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the jelly:
2 lb. pork bones
1 pig's trotter
1 carrot
1 onion
1 bouquet garni (celery, bay leaf, thyme and parsley)
12 black peppercorns
4 cloves


For the pastry:
1 lb. plain flour
1 tsp salt
10oz chilled butter, cut into pieces
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2-3 tbsp cold water

For the jelly: put all the ingredients into a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 3 hours. Strain through a very fine sieve into a clean pan and boil vigorously until reduced to 1 pint. Season to taste and leave to cool.

To make the filling: cut the pork and bacon into ½-inch pieces. Put half of the pork and 2oz of the bacon into a food processor and process using the pulse button until coarsely chopped.

Scrape into a bowl and stir in the rest of the diced pork, bacon herbs, spices, anchovy essence, 1 tsp salt and some pepper.

Fry a little piece of the mixture in sunflower oil, taste and adjust the flavourings if necessary.

To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a food processor or mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Beat the whole egg with the egg yolk and water and gradually stir into the dry ingredients to make a soft dough. Knead briefly until smooth then cut off one third of the mixture and set it aside for the lid.

Roll out the larger piece and use to line the base and sides of an 8-inch clip-sided cake tin, leaving the excess pastry overhanging the edges.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

To assemble the pie:spoon the pork filling into the tin and slightly round the top of the mixture to give the finished pie a nice shape.

Brush the edge of the pastry with beaten egg. Roll out the remaining pastry and use to cover the top of the pie.

Cut a small hole into the centre of the lid with a small pastry cutter, remove the plug of pastry and leave the cutter in place to retain the hole during baking.

Brush with more beaten egg and decorate with a twisted rope of pastry and pastry leaves. Brush the top with beaten egg.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350F and continue to cook for a further 1½ hours, loosely covering the pie with a triple-thickness sheet of greaseproof paper once it is nicely browned.

Finally, remove the pie from the oven and leave to cool for 2 hours. Then warm through the jelly and pour into the pie through the hole in the top. Remove cutter used to make the hole in the top. Leave to go cold overnight.


courtesy of: Rick Stein, Seafood Restaurant, Padstow, UK