Pie fetishing

 a bold expression of pig

‘All culinary traditions have a way of using up bits of animal that might otherwise go to waste, and the pork pie is one of the noblest’

“yum yum, pig's bum”, “pickle me walnuts”,

 “spank me gently with a wet chamois”

 There is something about a pork pie that brings out the Len Goodman in me,and there is nothing I bloody love more than a Melton Mowbray pork pie,and even better,getting the satisfaction from one I have made at home.I love that interplay of crisp, animal fat-boosted hot water pastry, the dense meaty filling, punched up with white pepper, anchovy essence, sage and thyme, and then the jelly, reintroduced back into the tight cavities from which it has leaked during cooking.
It is a thing of utter joy.But with the stock, the filling and the pastry, making your own pork pie can seem like a daunting prospect. But get stuck in and lo and behold the finished product is a thing of beauty But, why you ask,would this task occur to anyone, with so many good ones around in the shops? Well, let me tell you exactly why. I suffer from ED (expat deprivation)This means I do not have access to an award winning English butcher´s pork pie within walking distance from my home. I am therefore faced with no other option if I am to succeed in satisfying expat cravings,than making my own.

 glazed and ready for the oven

Rarely have I enjoyed making anything quite so much as I did making my annual Pork pie this year. It was stonkingly good.Kneading that soft, warm dough ready to mould into shape took me back to my art school days of trying my hand on the potters wheel.I was never destined for a career in ceramics I have to say.Twisting the lid into pleats around its circumference,The agonizing consumption of time in trying to get all that jelly in down the funnel but finally that proud moment when you prise your huge heavy porky creation from the shackles of its springform tin and there it is resplendent before you. Making a pork pie is something to file under "a bit of performance". Yet it is undoubtedly a thing of unmistakable homely beauty. Something I always look forward to at this time of year, unlike making marmalade.I now feel committed to making pork pies more often,maybe a pork pie is for all year round ,not just for Christmas.
The trusted and proven recipe I use
There are many really helpful step by step videos on Youtube and this is where I started.