Jim's pork pies - Cooking, Garden & Home & Pets

Yes please Jim!

Yes please Jim. Your pies look mouth watering!

Here you go. Remember to let us know how you go on.

Notes:

Recipe ingredients and quantities vary an awful lot, so I ended up just doing my own thing. For future bakes I'll probably experiment with adding other ingredients - apple, onion, haggis, etc.

The herbs and spices I added gave a subtle extra flavour we both really liked, but this is something you can modify as you like. Next time I'll keep the same items and quantities, but I'll also add a little bit of anchovy essence or crushed anchovies and see what that does.

The following quantities, making 5 individual pies, resulted in 255g of pastry left over. So you can reduce the pastry quantities or, better, increase the quantity of meat.

The meat I used came from Mercadona - can't remember the packet size but it would have been about 600g. When I make the next batch, I'll see if I can find shoulder (aguja). You could also use minced pork, but the filling might then be too dense to absorb the jelly.

The lard also came from Mercadona, and is found in the meat aisle (in our Mercadona at Almoradí).

For the filling:

500g spare ribs meat (costillas carnosas)

¼ tsp dried sage

¼ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground mace

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Remove the meat from the bones and dice the meat fairly finely.

Thoroughly mix in all the other ingredients, and cover the bowl and preferably chill overnight for the flavours to develop.

For the pastry:

500 g plain flour

¼ tsp salt

220 g lard

130 ml water

Sift the flour into a large bowl and season with salt and mix well.

Gently heat the lard and water together until the lard has melted - depending on how hot your hob is, it may well come to a boil, and this is OK.

Pour immediately into the well in the flour and draw the ingredients together with a wooden spoon to form a soft, pliable ball of dough. Don't worry if it looks a mess to begin with, as it will come together as you beat.

Turn on to the worktop and knead it until it all comes together without cracks or air in it. Don't over-knead your pastry ? it's not bread.

Then form into a ball, and leave in the fridge overnight if you wish; alternatively you can use it immediately once it's cool enough.

Assembly:

1 beaten egg, to glaze

You can use a proper dolly, a jam jar, or a glass tumbler as a former. I used glass jars: Baxter's redcurrant jelly, Heritage Dijon mustard, Mercadona's green peppercorns etc. are all a suitable size.

For each former, smear spread around its outside edge and bottom, and then roll it in flour. Alternatively cover with cling film (as I did), after greasing the mould. This is to prevent both the pastry and clingfilm from sticking too much.

First take a bit of pastry and knead it a little to make sure it's pliable and doesn't crack when manipulated, then roll out to a rough round of 4 or 5 mm thickness. Err on the side of too big, because you'll be trimming it. Take care not to overwork the pastry.

You can put your bit of pastry on the worktop and draw the pastry up the sides, or do as I did and put your former upside down on the worktop and push the pastry down.

Squeeze the pastry with your hands and at the same time work the pastry down and around the body of the former. The pastry should have a regular and even thickness all the way round.

Then trim it with a knife to the size you want.

All the recipes I looked at said to remove the pastry from the former at this stage, but even with clingfilm or flour, it's reluctant to come off, so it deforms and you have to reshape it once off. Then you have to go round the top with a pair of scissors to tidy it up. It was only when I did the last pie that I found the way that works best for me.

I found the cases are easiest to remove, and to fill, if you chill them in the freezer until nearly frozen - they're then much easier to take off without deforming; the only disadvantage is that you have to let them defrost a bit before you can fit the lids - but it's well worth the wait. Make certain there are no holes or tears. This is crucial, or the jelly will leak out.

Final assembly:

If you want a break, put the cases in the fridge to rest.

Roll out the topping pastry to the required thickness. Cut some discs for the lids using a glass or biscuit cutter that is a slightly larger diameter than the pie. Set aside.

Roll some of the meat into a ball and carefully place into the bottom of the pastry case, moulding the sides to the meat to ensure no air remains in the body of the pie. Add more, carefully pressing it down and into the sides. It should come almost to the top of the pastry.

Brush the top inner parts of the pastry casing with some of the beaten egg and place the pastry circle on top.

Pinch the edges of the pastry to seal the pie, making sure the rim of it points upwards. Ensure the lid is very securely sealed to the pastry case otherwise the sides will collapse during baking. Create a crimped finish to the top of the pie.

I found it best to have my thumbs on the outside and use my fingers to press it together and lift up the edge, then fold the top bit over outwards. Tidy up the overall shape, then use a knife at a 45º angle to press on the rim every few mm, to give the crimped appearance.

When the meat is in and the pie lid is sealed the pie takes on a far more rigid integrity, which is much easier to work and shape if you want to tidy up its appearance.

Lightly brush the top of the pie (not the crimp) with egg and make a hole in the lid, about 5mm in diameter, to let out the steam.

Re-roll any pastry trimmings and cut out diamond-shaped leaves to decorate the lids, if you wish to do so.

Chill the pies for at least 1 hour in a fridge or, for best results, overnight.

Baking:

The pies are baked without any support to their sides, which means they will bow outwards during cooking. If you have any doubts about the pies collapsing once they go in the oven, you can support them with well-buttered steel rings. Alternatively you can put them close to one another in a baking tin, so they can 'lean' on one another for support.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place the pies on a baking sheet or tray.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C and bake for a further 1¾ hours, if necessary covering the top of the pie with a piece of foil or greaseproof after an hour to prevent over-browning the crust (wasn't necessary with my oven).

If you are using some kind of ring to support your pie, remove it after half an hour to allow the sides of the pie to cook.

After 1¾ hours remove the pie from the oven, brush the sides and top with some more beaten egg, and return to the oven for 15 minutes, to make them look nicer.

When baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

For the jelly:

Whilst the pies are baking, prepare the jelly. The following wasn't quite enough for 5 individual pies, so factor up next time.

300ml boiling water

¼ chicken stock pot

1 bouquet garni

¼ tsp thyme

¼ tsp sage

1 large or 2 small sheets of leaf gelatine (I used 2 leaves Supercook platinum)

In a saucepan add in all of the ingredients except for the gelatine leaves. Stir, making sure the stock pot dissolves, and bring up to a simmer. Once the stock is just under the boil turn the heat down and simmer gently, without the lid on, for twenty minutes.

Then strain through a fine strainer, and put back into the pan.

Soak the gelatine in some cold water for a few minutes, then remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze to remove excess liquid, and stir into the stock to dissolve. The hot liquid should not be boiling when the gelatine is added or this will prevent the gelatine from setting properly.

Once dissolved turn the heat off.

The stock on cooling will set into a jelly, so use it while still warm and liquid. If it sets before using just gently warm it back up and stir.

Finishing off:

When the pies have cooled a bit, pour the stock into a jug and then pour it carefully through the holes in the top of the pies. A funnel is useful.

Once poured, let it settle for 20 minutes, then pour in a little more stock for a second time if it needs it.

Cover the pies and leave in the fridge for several hours or overnight, for the jelly to set and the pie to firm up.

Remove from the fridge at least an hour before serving.

Eating:

We ate our first two cold, with some of those long thin potatoes you do in the deep-fat fryer. The next two we'll try warming, which will obviously liquify the jelly, but that shouldn't be a problem except that the chips might get soggy.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the time and effort to put the recipe on Jim....could be a while before I have a go but at least I've got the know how when it takes my fancy. Merry Christmas

I would like to sample one or two first Jim, just to make sure I like them before going to the trouble of making them.

Cheeky, Clive. If a nice looking lady asked me that, I'd tell her to come over when Margaret's out and I'd give her one. But as you're a geriatric male like me, no chance!

As you discribe yourself I presume you mean one pie.

Need a recipe for a garlic sause that is white and looks like mayo? Good with a steak or chuleton.

If you mean a cold sauce i.e. allioli, then this old thread is what I do these days (post 14):

http://lamarinaforum...ioli#entry91390

If you want a hot sauce, then I don't do anything complicated. Just pan fry the steak in butter or a mix of butter and oil. When it's ready, remove the steak and let it rest a couple of minutes. While it's resting, put some cream and crushed garlic in the frying pan. Give it a good stir and let it reduce for a couple of minutes. While it's reducing, slice up the steak. Then put the steak back in the pan. Stir to coat, and serve.

This, in my opinion, is even better with crushed green peppercorns rather than garlic.

No Jim, the result is white. You take several cloves of garlic peel them and put them in the stick blender cup. Add whole milk (a little bit) depending on the quantity you want to make. Put the blender in switch it on and after a few seconds add oil (girasol) like you add it when making mayo.
At the last moment add salt. After that add fine cut celery leafs(the dark green ones) and do not use the blender to mix it, that would give the emulsion a green coulor, do it with a spoon.
The result is an emulsion, white and tasty. It took me a long time trying to make it after I tasted it untill my friend the chef in the restaurand showed me. I did not know it was so easy.

What you discribed is a mayonaise in a way.

It isn't actually white, as the mustard powder colours it slightly and makes it look like mayo, as you said.

Yours sounds nice and tasty, with the added celery. How thick does it turn out? I'm not keen on thin emulsions.

I make it like mayo or even a bit thicker, put it in the frige after making it that will because of the oil make it thicker as well. You could do it with oliveoil, tastes different but the whiteness is gone then.

Jim, with your looks you remind me of a mariner, have you ever had cold smoked mackerel?

Never been a mariner, but I do love smoked mackerel. Margaret sometimes brings some back from Scotland, where the fishmonger she goes to smokes fish properly - not like the horrible artificial stuff you get from the likes of Iceland.

Edited by jimtaylor, 14 December 2016 - 12:33 PM.

There are two ways to smoke mackerel, both are pickled before smoking. The cold smoked are smoked without heat like salmon, just smoke and the temp. has to stay beneeth 20 degrees.
The other version is smoked for about 45 min. cold and after that 15 to 20 min. at about 80 degrees to get it cooked.
Talking about salmon, the taste of smoked salmon and the way the Spanish do it is similar.
Take a side of a fresh salmon, leave the skin on, take all the bones out, mix a kilo of salt and a kilo of sugar, add a spoon of pimenton dulce (the type of spoon you eat your soup with) put the salmon covered with the mix on all sides in a plastic tray put it in the fridge for 24 hours.
After 24 hours take it out and remove the skin (it feels like leather) wash the salmon, dry it with kitchen paper and cut it. If you want to keep it for a while put it in a stainless steel tray and cover it with vegetable oil.

I agree you need to brine the mackerel for about half an hour before smoking. I prefer cold-smoked as it's more succulent, but hot smoked are good as well. And using oak chips for the smoke helps a lot.

I do like your way of using paprika for added flavour when curing salmon, instead of dill - I'll have to try it that way.

And if you want something very easy and a little bit different, just thinly slice some salmon (or other fish) and marinade it in lemon juice for a little while.

Yes, it is like bokerones en vinagre, clean the fish, wash them put them in a solution of salt lemonjuice and vinager. A friend of mine does it in his chiringuito in the Malaga area.
My wife likes it a lot, I like them but I taste them the whole day, a problem with fat fish and acid.

Update:

For the benefit of anyone who's going to have a go (Martin and Freddy, I hope), the following are the tweaks to my method.

I've just finished a second batch, this time using shoulder of pork, and adding a pinch of chilli powder as well as the other ingredients.

I removed the labels from the jars, as I found this makes removing the pastry a bit easier.

I also took the lids off, to give me a better grip when removing them.

Because I stopped for a brew, I left some pastry cases chilling in the freezer for too long, and couldn't remove the frozen pastry from the jars, so I had to let them defrost a bit.

I used a piping bag nozzle to cut holes in the lids before fitting these. The appearance is much better.

For the jelly, I omitted the bouquet garni, but added parley, rosemary, marjoram and a bay leaf.

Because I had some pastry left over, and also had half a haggis left from when I recently made some haggis scotch eggs, I broke up the haggis and used that. As the haggis is already cooked, I took the haggis pies out of the oven after a bit less than an hour's cooking.

For future bakes, I'll try some more tweaks - at the moment I'm thinking of pork and apple, pork and cranberry, pork and red onion, etc.