Hairy Bikers Pork Pie

This Hairy Bikers pork pie recipe makes four proper raised pies with jelly, and the only special equipment is four jam jars. The hot water crust pastry shapes over the cold jars, sets hard in the fridge, then slips free ready to fill.

“This is a proper traditional raised pork pie,” says Perfect Pies, “and if you’ve never made your own you’re missing out.” Each of the four pies serves two people, at about 620 calories a serving.

Everything depends on the pastry being watertight, because a raised pie has to hold liquid jelly without leaking. Keep a ball of trimmings nearby, so any split gets patched with dough and beaten egg the moment it appears.

Hairy Bikers Pork Pie Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:HardPrep time:1 hour Cook time:4 hours Rest time:4 hours Total time:9 hours Servings:8 servingsCalories:620 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Chopped shoulder, minced belly and bacon make the filling, seasoned with allspice and nutmeg rather than herbs. A three-hour trotter stock becomes the jelly, poured through a hole in each baked pie and set overnight.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 400g boneless pork shoulder, finely chopped
• 150g pork belly, finely minced
• 100g lean back bacon, finely chopped
• 1 tsp flaked sea salt
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium egg, beaten

For the hot water crust pastry

• 475g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 50g cold butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
• 150g cold lard, cut into cubes
• 125ml water
• 2 tsp flaked sea salt
• Beaten egg, to glaze

For the jelly stock

• 900g pork bones
• 1 pig’s trotter
• 2 large carrots, halved
• 2 celery sticks, halved
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2 bay leaves
• Few thyme sprigs
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

Instructions

1. Make the jelly stock: Simmer the bones, trotter, vegetables, herbs and peppercorns in just enough water to cover for 3 hours, skimming now and then. Strain, then boil the stock hard until reduced to about 600ml, and chill.
2. Make the pastry: Butter the outside of 4 squat jam jars and stand them upside down on a lined tray. Rub the butter and 50g of the lard into the flour and pepper. Simmer the remaining lard with the water and salt, stir it in to make a smooth dough, then rest it for 30 minutes.
3. Shape over the jars: Divide the pastry in 4, keeping just over a quarter of each piece for a lid. Roll each larger piece to about 7mm and smooth it over a jar, then chill for 45-60 minutes until hard.
4. Mix the filling: Combine the pork shoulder, belly, bacon, salt, spices, plenty of pepper and the beaten egg with clean hands.
5. Release the cases: Turn the jars upright and pour about 3cm of just-boiled water into each, because the warmth melts the fat so the jar slides free. Work quickly, and smooth over any tears with spare dough.
6. Fill and lid: Divide the filling between the cases without packing it tight, then egg-wash the rims. Top with the rolled lids, pinch a crimped edge, and make a pea-sized hole in each lid for the funnel, then chill for 30 minutes.
7. Bake with three glazes: Heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4, then bake the pies for 1 hour, brushing with beaten egg at the start, after 30 minutes and after 45. Cool for 2-3 hours, moving them to the fridge after the first hour.
8. Pour the jelly: Scrape the fat off the set stock, boil it for 2 minutes, then cool it for an hour without letting it set. Funnel it slowly through the holes until it reaches the top of each pie, then chill overnight until the jelly sets.

FAQs

Is this the same as their easy BBC pork pie recipe?

Nearly, because the BBC version is their Melton Mowbray pie from the Food Tour of Britain days, described there as “surprisingly easy and very, very impressive”. That one bakes as a single larger pie, uses two trotters in the stock, and puts milk in an all-lard pastry.

This Perfect Pies version makes four small pies instead, with butter in the crust alongside the lard. The method is the same family, so anyone who loved the TV pie will feel at home here.

Why shape the pastry over jam jars?

Because a proper hand raised pie needs a mould, and the book’s answer costs nothing. The pastry firms up around the cold glass, then a splash of hot water inside each jar melts the fat so the case slides off whole.

That trick gives you the traditional raised shape without a pie dolly or special tin. It is also why the pastry chills until properly hard, since soft pastry tears when the jar leaves.

Why does the jelly need a pig’s trotter?

The trotter is where the set comes from, because its natural gelatine turns three hours of stock into jelly with nothing added. Bones alone make tasty stock, but it stays liquid in the pie.

If the jelly starts leaking through the top holes during pouring, the book has a fix. Make small foil chimneys about 4cm tall and poke them into the pies, so the liquid travels up the tubes instead of drenching the pastry.

Which of their pies has the egg in the middle?

Two of them, so pick your level. The Ham & Egg Pie sits right beside this one in Perfect Pies, with quail’s eggs down the centre, and the headnote jokes that getting the egg in used to seem “a bit like a ship in a bottle”.

Their Meat Feasts book calls its Gala Picnic Pie “the gourmet version” of the luminous pink gala pie they grew up on, with quail’s eggs again down the middle. The same book holds a pork, leek and apricot raised pie too, if you want to go further. And for a hot knife-and-fork dinner instead, their pork and apple pie comes with its own cider gravy.

How far ahead can I make pork pies?

They are built for it, because the jelly needs several hours or overnight in the fridge to set anyway. That makes them a day-before job at minimum, which suits picnics perfectly.

The book serves them with salad and pickles, straight from the cold. For the rest of a picnic spread, their cheesy custard tarts eat at room temperature too, and their eccles cakes finish it with something sweet.