To me, a good pork pie is a truly wonderful thing. Happy memories of visits to my English grandmother. They should have a lovely golden crust with a juicy, meaty filling and just the right amount of tasty pork jelly. No Jelly, Not a Pork Pie! I basically worked my recipe until it matched my memory of those amazing traditional pork pies I had as a child.
We only use our local, Pasture Raised pork for our pies. Our pork pies are handmade, the authentic way.
The filling has three main elements. We use lean, diced pork for the chunkiness, a sausage meat element and then salt pork for the depth of flavour. Salt pork is un-spiced, unsmoked bacon. We make the pork aspic (jelly) ourselves, from the pork bones and trimmings.
The pastry is a traditional Hot Water crust, made with homemade lard, butter, free range eggs and local stoneground flour from Eureka Mills.
Traditionally, the pies are served cold or at room temperature. Perfect with pickles, salad, cheeses etc. as part of a Ploughmans Lunch.