Nigel Slater's pork pie recipe | Food (2024)

FAQs

What is the jelly in pork pies made of? ›

Traditionally, the jelly is made using a pig's trotter, and there is a recipe for this on page 98 of the book, but if you are short of time you can make the simple version below. In most traditional recipes the pastry is also hand-raised, which means that it is shaped without the help of a mould.

The sides of a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie are bow-shaped as they are baked free standing, whereas most other pork pies are straight-sided being baked in hoops. The meat used is fresh pork which is naturally grey when cooked, liked roast pork, not pink like other pork pies which used cured pork.

Historians believe that the pork pie evolved from a pasty. Many parts of the country used to cure the pork filling before using it in a pie thereby creating a pink colour on the inside. In Melton Mowbray, the pie contained uncured fresh meat. Once roasted, the filling was grey resembling uncured roast pork.

Yes, they are meant to be eaten cold, the meat in a pork pie is surrounded by savoury aspic jelly which would melt if it was heated up spoiling the pie. They often feature in British cold buffets or as part of a ploughman's lunch with bread, cheese & pickle of some kind.

You mean unflavored gelatin. Yes, you can buy it most any well stocked grocery store. It is hardly the most flavorful way to do it, but that is the purified form. To do it right takes cooking pork bones (I prefer smoked ham hocks) and letting that congeal.

The gelatin used to make Jell-O can be made from pig skin. Gelatin is sourced from the skin, bones and other connective tissues of pigs, cows and other farmed animals. Gelatin production can get smelly for people who live near gelatin processing plants.

Leeson Family Butchers' Melton Mowbray pork pies are amongst the best in the world. Show Champion 2018, Gold award winner 2019, Show Champion (pork pie category) 2021, 2022 and 2023.

But the pork pie does have that regional identity, with its origins from Melton Mowbray. Pork pies are now produced all over the UK but it is the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie that is most famous.

In Yorkshire, pork pies are often served hot, accompanied with gravy or with mushy peas and mint sauce. It is also a common combination served at Bonfire Night celebrations. In Yorkshire slang a pork pie is sometimes called a "growler", a term probably derived from the "NAAFI growler" of earlier naval and army slang.

While you can make a pork pie without the jelly, traditional pork pies have gelatin (some boiled pig trotters) added to preserve and keep the meat moist. You will often see a small hole in the lid of the pie where the jelly has been poured in.

Why is my pork pie soggy on the bottom? ›

Grey meat seasoned with salt and pepper, succulent jelly, and bowed walls are the hallmark of a Melton Mowbray pork pie. The meat used is fresh and uncured, which gives it its distinctive grey colouration, in contrast to pork pies made from cured pork, where the meat is pink.

Pork pies may be traditional and much-loved, but a small (140g) one contains a massive 529 calories and 36.4g of fat including lard, hydrogenated vegetable oil and pork fat. "These are all saturated fats - it's a heart attack in a packet," says Natalie Savona.

Chutney (or relish)

Delicious with a pork pie! Opt for an onion or vegetable-based chutney. Mango chutney would elevate our curried veg Ruby Murray Pasty!

Use-by dates are about safety

Never eat food after the use-by date, even if it looks and smells ok, as it could make you very ill. You can eat food until midnight on the use-by date shown on a product, but not after, unless the food has been cooked or frozen.

Fun fact! What is up with the jelly layer that surrounds Spam? Natural gelatin creates the stuff inside the cans during cooking, which helps with the preservation of the meat. In 2009, potato starch was added to reduce the gooeyness.

we have now developed our jelly-less pork pie. Starting from base and using only the best British pork, we have experimented to get the seasoned minced pork filling just right. With jelly or without and with more meat in!

Prepare the pastry

Gently melt 100g lard and 100g butter in a pan with 200ml hot (not boiling) water. Sieve 500g plain flour, 50g white bread flour and 1 tsp salt into a bowl, then pour in the lard, mix and stir in quickly. Add 1 beaten egg and 2 tsp English mustard. Mix to make a smooth, soft pastry.

aspic, savoury clear jelly prepared from a liquid stock made by simmering the bones of beef, veal, chicken, or fish. The aspic congeals when refrigerated by virtue of the natural gelatin that dissolves into the stock from the tendons; commercial sheet or powdered gelatin is sometimes added to ensure a stiff set.