On Mon, 04 May 2009 12:07:33 -0500, Omelet >
wrote:
>In article >,
> Mack A. Damia > wrote:
>
><snipped>
>
>> >> mad
>> >
>> >But it's food, so would still be on topic! Please do share. :-)
>>
>> Okay. Let me dig it up, and it's worth it's own thread. 
>
>BTW, I like your nick'. <g>
Especially for you.
(BTW, it's not just a name but a way of life - mad)
Pork pies are a staple of the British Isles; you find them most
everywhere.
Melton Mowbray happens to be one of the more well-known. It's not a
brand, but refers to the area in which it was fiorast made. Certain
spices give the cold meat a unique flavor and mixed with the aspic
produces a gastronomical delight in many.
The pie is eated cold and can be usually found in a "Ploughman's
lunch" - although there are many variations of such a meal. It's
often times accompanied by, say, Cheshire cheese, and pickled onions.
This recipe prepares 1 pork pie, which will serve 4-6-8, depending on
the portions. It's quite a heavy pie.
There are three parts to this pie, jelly, crust and filling. Of
course, as we all know, one important ingredient to good cooking is
"preparation"; so get all this stuff ready beforehand.
Ingredients:
10 - 12 oz. of jellied stock
1 ½ lbs. lean pork
Seasoning mixture
1 lb hot water crust pastry
First, the jelly.
If you want to be authentic, then go to the butcher and ask him for
pigs' feet, and have him cut them up into chunks. Either that or you
can go to work on them with a cleaver, like I do. Don't forget to
split the hooves.
Put them in a pan and cover them completely with water; make certain
that you have enough (you may have to add a little while it's
cooking). You just want to make sure that you have enough liquid
(perhaps 10 - 12 ounces is enough) for the pie. Boil this for a couple
of hours or so, skim the fat from the top after it cools and you can
put this aside for later. If you cool it, it will gel, but just put it
on the stove for a couple of minutes to liquify.
The short cut is to get the powered gelatin and prepare as directed
using chicken stock.. I have done it both ways at once then mixed
them, to insure an adequate supply. Works great!!
Next, prepare the spices to be mixed in with the meat.
Spices:
½ oz. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne
¼ tsp. ground mace
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of dried sage and marjoram
Mix these together, and you can experiment yourself by adding a little
more of this or that depending on your taste preference, but these are
the spices that give it the distinctive flavor.
Meat:
Get 1 ½ pounds of fairly lean ground pork ; you might ask the butcher
to give you some that's not ground too much; rather "chopped"..
Mix the spices thoroughly into the meat, cover and put aside for
later.
Pastry:
This is a hot water crust, and this is what you will need.
1 lb. flour
5oz. lard
½tsp. salt
1¼ cups milk/water mixture (10 oz.)
Mix flour and salt
Bring lard and milk/water mix. to a boil.
Pour into flour, mixing with wooden spoon
Mix until smooth consitency
When cool enough to handle, knead for ten minutes.
You can add a little flour if too sticky.
You will need a hinged pie pan. I bought a couple of different sizes
and shapes, but about 9 inches in diameter and 3 or 4 inches thick
seems to work..
Grease the pan very well with lard
Roll out the dough, saving about 1/3 for the top (roll that out, too)
Line the pan with the dough
Add half the meat; pour in a "little" cold stock.
Add rest of meat.
Cover with pastry lid; dampen and crimp edges.
Make a hole in the middle; decorate with shapes made from scraps of
pastry.
Brush top with beaten egg
Recipe calls for fastening a piece of wax paper over the top and
baking.
Bake in hot oven (425°F) for 12 minutes Reduce heat to 350°F for 2 to
2 ½ hours
Maybe 20 minutes before it's finished, remove hinged pie tin, brush
sides of pie with beaten egg, and return to oven for twenty minutes.
Ideally, the pie sould be a nice golden brown, remove from oven, allow
to cool, and add the jellied stock through the hole in the middle
until it overflows. You may want to check back several times, as the
liquid is quickly absorbed and more can be added.
Add as much jellied stock as you can. The aspic is especially
refreshing.
Allow to cool and enjoy!
--
mad