River Cottage Pork Pie

Method

1. Start by making the stock, which will become the jelly that surrounds the filling of your pork pie. Place a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and add a dash of oil. When it is hot, add the trotters and cook gently for a few minutes. Then, add the vegetables, bay leaves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, and salt. Cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes.
2. Add the water and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 2 hours, topping up with fresh water as needed.
3. Pass the stock through a fine sieve into a bowl, allow it to cool, and then chill in the fridge. You can save the skin and meat from the trotters for a crispy fried trotter salad, which is lovely with a poached egg.
4. To make the pie filling, mix the fresh pork with the bacon. Combine half of this mixture with the prunes, then put it through a mincer on the fine plate (3–4 mm). Chop the remaining meat by hand into 3–4 mm dice. The best way to do this is on a large board with a sharp chef’s knife. Alternatively, you can put all the meat through the mincer, but the filling won’t have the traditional chunky texture.
5. Recombine all the chopped and minced meat in a bowl. Add the chopped thyme and breadcrumbs, and season well with white and black pepper, mace, and salt. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
7. To make the pastry, put the lard and water into a pan and warm them over low heat until the fat has melted and the mixture is warm—it doesn’t have to boil. Combine the flour with the salt in a large mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg in another bowl. Pour the lard and water mixture into the flour. Add the beaten egg and bring together to form a dough. Gather the dough and place it on a work surface. Fold the pastry 4 or 5 times until smooth.
8. Divide the pastry in two, one for each pie. Take the first half and cut off a quarter; set this aside for the pie lid. Use the larger piece for the base and sides: form it into a round and then roll it out into a circle, roughly 15 cm in diameter. Lay the pastry in one of the 10 cm pie tins, carefully bringing it up the sides and smoothing out any pleats as you go. Leave a very slight overhang of pastry all around. Make sure there are no holes in the pastry, or the jelly may leak out. Fill the lined tin with enough pork filling to come up to the top of the pastry.
9. Beat the egg for the glaze and brush the edges of the pastry with a little of it. Roll out the smaller portion of pastry for the lid. Carefully ease the lid into place and crimp the edges together tightly and neatly. You may have to trim any overhanging edges at this point. Use the tip of a knife to make a small hole in the middle of the lid. Repeat this process for the second pie.
10. Bake the pies for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Brush the pies all over with beaten egg and return them to the oven for a further hour, or until cooked through. Remove from the oven.
11. Warm the jellied stock until it is just liquid. Position a small funnel in the hole at the top of one pie and carefully pour in enough stock to fill it to the top. Repeat with the second pie. Allow to cool completely, then refrigerate overnight before serving.