Lightbites Lunch

Classic River Cottage Pork Pie Recipe

During the colder months, a great pie offers the ultimate opportunity to hunker down and indulge. Try this one from Gelf Alderson of River Cottage.

30 minutes plus chilling time prep, 1 hour 45 minutes cook

Serves 8

Ingredients

1kg hot water crust pastry

Flour, to dust

Egg wash

For the filling

1kg pork shoulder, minced

250g pork belly, minced (or fatty sausage meat)

250g salt pork, pancetta or streaky bacon, finely chopped

12 sage leaves, finely chopped

2 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked and chopped

20g salt

2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

2 tsp ground white pepper

½ tsp ground mace

A good pinch of cayenne pepper

For the jelly

400ml good-quality pork stock

8 sheets of bronze leaf gelatine

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6.

2 To prepare the filling, put all the meats into a large bowl with the herbs, salt and all the other seasonings. Mix well until thoroughly combined.

3 To assemble the pie, cut off a generous quarter of the pastry and set aside; this will be your lid. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the bigger piece of pastry to a large round, about 1cm thick and 35cm in diameter.

4 Drape the pastry over a 20cm springform cake tin and use to line the tin, pressing the pastry into the sides and flattening any overlap with your fingers. It should come 6–8cm up the sides of the tin.

5 Fill the pastry case with the seasoned pork mixture. Trim the pastry roughly, leaving a little overhang. Roll out the reserved piece of pastry to a 20cm round (the diameter of the tin) and about 1cm thick.

6 Brush the edges of the lining pastry lightly with egg wash and lay the pastry lid on top of the pie. Press the edges together to seal and trim away the excess pastry. Crimp the edges. Brush the pie lid generously with egg wash and cut a 1cm hole in the centre.

7 Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, then lower the setting to 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas 5 and bake for a further 1 hour.

8 Remove from the oven, release the spring clip and lift off the side of the tin. Brush the top and sides of the pastry well with egg wash and return to the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown all over. A probe thermometer inserted into the centre of the pie should register 72°C. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for an hour or so.

9 For the jelly, heat the stock in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to steam, then add the gelatine leaves one by one, stirring constantly until fully melted. Remove from the heat and pour into a jug.

10 Using a funnel, pour the stock, little by little, into the pie through the hole in the pastry lid. Once full, allow the liquid to settle and repeat the process; keep doing this until you have got every last drop you can into the pie. Refrigerate for 5–6 hours to chill thoroughly. Remove the pie from the tin and cut into slices to serve.

Individual pork pies
1 Roll out the pastry to a 5mm thickness and cut out six 18cm rounds. Gather the pastry trimmings, re-roll and cut six 6cm rounds for the lids. Brush the edges of the larger pastry rounds with egg wash and place a couple of heaped spoonfuls of the filling in the centre.

2 Bring the pastry up around the sides of the filling and place the smaller pastry rounds on top. Press the edges together to seal all the way around and crimp them.

3 Make a 1cm hole in the centre of each pie lid.

4 Place on a lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven at 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas 5 for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 45 minutes. The cooled pies can be filled with jelly, as above.

Recipes extracted from River Cottage Great Pies by Gelf Alderson, published by Bloomsbury. Photography by Emma Lee.