Pork, Apple & Cider Pie
Ingredients
- For the filling: 1.5kg pork shoulder meat
- 175g lean bacon, diced
- 75g dried apple rings
- 275ml farmhouse cider
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- About 10 gratings of nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 2 teaspoons anchovy essence
- For the pastry: 450g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 275g butter
- 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- Beaten egg to glaze
- For the jelly: 900g pork bones and a pig's trotter
- 900ml farmhouse cider
- 1 carrot and 1 onion
- A bouquet garni of parsley, thyme and bay leaf
- A handful of black peppercorns
- Salt and pepper
Method
The night before you plan to cook, chop the dried apple rings and leave to soak in the cider overnight.
Place all the ingredients for the jelly, apart from the salt and pepper, in a large pan, add enough water to cover and simmer for three hours. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pan, reduce over a high heat to about a pint, season to taste and leave to cool.
For the filling, whizz half the pork and bacon in a food processor until roughly chopped, and finely dice the remainder by hand. Mix together with the seasonings and the cider-soaked apple in a large bowl. Add a little salt and pepper, then fry a small piece and taste to adjust the seasoning — a dish that is going to be eaten cold needs to be fairly highly seasoned.
For the pastry, rub the butter into the flour and salt, beat together the water, two eggs and the yolk, and gradually work into the mixture to make a soft dough.
Use two-thirds of the pastry to line a greased eight-inch cake tin. Pack in the pork and top with the remaining pastry, brushing the edges with beaten egg to seal the lid. Brush the top with the remaining egg, make a half-inch hole in the centre and insert a tube of baking parchment.
Bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 200°C / gas mark 6, then reduce to 180°C / gas mark 4 and cook for a further hour and a half. Remove and leave to cool completely.
Warm the jelly through and pour carefully into the hole in the lid. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
From the August 2019 edition of the Churston Farm Shop recipe collection. View the original edition (PDF)