Chanukah #8 - the pork pie that killed Uncle Bob
Untested. Unsuitable for *anyone* Jewish. This pie really killed a friend’s Uncle Bob. Possibly the meanest recipe I could post to end the Chanukah series.
The friend who gave it to me is from Lancashire, source of delectable pies, so if you aren’t under the disability of not being able to cook or eat pork and if your name isn’t Bob, this pie is worth baking.
Pork pie
Ingredients
Filling
2 lbs pork pieces
1 small tbs salt
1 small tsp pepper
Jelly
12 oz broken pork bones (or pigs trotters)
3 pints water
1 onion
1 bay leaf
a few sprigs parsley
a few sprigs thyme
Crust
1 lb flour
4 oz lard
2 oz milk
2 oz water
Method
Jelly
Prepare the jelly the day before.
Place the bones/trotters into a saucepan with water and onion and sprinkle with salt. Bring it slowly to the boil. Skim well.
Add the herbs (as a bouquet garni ie tied together in a small bundle, for ease of removal) and simmer all day. When strong enough to jell and of a good flavour, strain and cool. There should be less than one pint of finished stock.
Remove the fat when cold.
Filling
Cut the pork into small pieces and mix well with the seasonings.
Set aside.
Crust
Warm the flour and rub in half the lard.
Heat the milk with the water, adding the remainder of lard. When melted, cool until it is lukewarm, then add the flour and mix to a smooth, soft dough.
Mould the dough into round oven-proof pie dishes, keeping small pieces of dough aside for the lids.
Fill the pies with the seasoned meat and cover with the remaining dough.
To decorate the pie beautifully, make a rose from bits of dough and brush the crust with beaten egg.
Bake into moderately slow oven for two hours. After the first hour, cover the pies with wet greaseproof paper to prevent the crust hardening.
Cool the pies, then fill with stock through a hole in the crust. The jelly should be just barely melted for this procedure, not hot.
Once the jelly is set, the pies are ready to eat. Just not by me or persons named Bob.
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