Melton Mowbray Style Pork Pies
Try this Melton Mowbray Style Pork Pies recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Melton Mowbray Style Pork Pies recipe, or contribute your own.
- 4 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 50 ml milk
- 500 g of fatty bacon (original called for pork bones and but
- bacon’s the only porky thing i can eat and handle
- 2 large coarsely chopped carrots
- 1 peeled and roughly chopped onion
- 1 coarsely chopped stick of celery
- 1 tbsp of thyme
- 1 tbsp of fresh chopped parsley
- 1/2 tbsp of black peppercorns
- 1 tsp gelatine
- 400 g regular pork mince
- 100 g lean bacon finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- and a sprinkle of salt and black pepper
- 150 g of butter
- 50 ml water
- 450 g all purpose flour
- Carbohydrate 347.114936700382 g
- Cholesterol 323.53132769296 mg
- Fat 127.016236111058 g
- Fiber 13.2152001914978 g
- Protein 52.4848243400127 g
- Saturated Fat 78.279099030423 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (1647g)
- Sodium 889.643026410397 mg
- Sugar 333.899736508884 g
- Trans Fat 10.1439866102629 g
- Calories 2751 calories
Step-by-step
- Start by making the pork jelly in advance, as this will take 3 hours to cook.
- In a medium sized saucepan, place the bacon, carrots, onion, celery, thyme, parsley, thyme, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns, and fill with water until everything is only just covered. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for three hours. Remove scum from surface, strain stock and return the sieved stock to a clean pot. Continue to simmer until liquid is reduced to half.
- Once finished (or if you’re short on time) I stirred in gelatine to help set the liquid to a jelly consistency, as this is what the pig bones would’ve been for.
- Meanwhile, to make the pastry, warm up the butter, milk and water in a saucepan together.
- In a mixer, make a well with the all purpose flour, and pour in warm liquid mixture.
- Use the bread kneader attachment until dough is formed and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Knead into a ball and set aside.
- To make the pie filling, mix together pork mince, lean bacon, allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180oC (350oF). Ready your pieplates by dusting lightly with flour. I used aluminum pie dishes as that's all I had, but small jam jars would be better, as they should be straight up and down.
- Set aside a quarter of the pastry to make the pie covers later.
- Roll out the rest of the pastry to about 1 inch thick and cut into a circle slightly larger than the pie dish.
- Place into the dish and press a ball of pork filling in the bottom.
- Once all are filled, using the pastry left, roll out and cut circles as pie covers.
- Place on top of the pie dishes and pinch to pastry edges together.
- Bake for ~45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool.
- Once cool, push a hole in the top of the pie and pour in the pork jelly.
- If the jelly is too set, heat it up slightly before pouring.
- Place in fridge to chill until jelly is set before serving with salad.
Ingredient quantities and basic steps outline the framework of a bake, but they rarely reveal how thermal reactions dictate the final structural integrity of a traditional British hand-raised pie. When melting fat, water, and milk together for the pastry, reaching the correct temperature before introducing the all-purpose flour ensures the starch molecules gelatinize properly, creating a dough malleable enough to shape without cracking under pressure. Traditional versions rely entirely on the natural collagen from pig bones to solidify the internal stock, yet supplementing with store-bought gelatin acts as a reliable insurance policy when utilizing alternative cuts like fatty bacon. Simmering the stock gently for three hours concentrates the savory aromatics while skimming impurities from the surface prevents bitterness from clouding the amber-colored liquid.
Molding the thick pastry requires purposeful manipulation while the dough remains warm, as cooling starches rapidly lose elasticity and become brittle. Selecting straight-sided vessels rather than sloped pie plates prevents the crust from locking vertically, ensuring the baked casing releases cleanly upon chilling. Baking at 180 degrees Celsius transforms the raw minced pork and bacon filling through steady thermal conduction, rendering internal fats that meld with the ground allspice and nutmeg. Once cooled completely, piercing the crown to funnel in the liquefied stock requires precision so the gelatin reaches every internal cavity before setting firmly in the refrigerator.
