Pie Dolly - Solid Wood - Perfect for Pie Making, Handcrafted in Ukraine

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Sift flour and salt into a warm bowl and rub in 15g of lard. Gently heat the remaining lard and water together until boiling, then add to flour, mixing until mixture is cool enough to knead. Knead well. Reserve a quarter of the pastry for the lid. Shape the remaining piece into a ball-like dome and leave in the fridge overnight. Let me start with the elephant in the room, and that’s how do you go about making the shape for a hand-raised pie properly? You have two choices: Use a mold or dolly, or McGyver it. Mostly it’s meat and fat, though. I ground some grouse meat with pork fat for part of it, and hand chopped more grouse for the rest. Doing both makes for a more interesting texture when you eat the game pie.

Obviously game will be in a game pie. Duh. But beyond that one rule, it’s kind of anything goes. Whatever game floats your boat, your choice of herbs, mushrooms if you want, onions, etc. Enjoy: Once your homemade Melton Mowbray Pork Pie has cooled, you can slice into it and savor the mouth-watering result of your culinary efforts. Now your filling of choice whether it is steak & kidney, cheese & onion or even a savoury item like apple or even a custard pie mix the choice is endless.

A traditional game pie uses a hot water dough. This is a very sturdy dough that, while not wondrous to eat like, say, empanada dough, is fine to eat. More importantly, it makes a dough that you can tote around for a day or so at room temperature, or at least at English room temperature. They are simple to make so, as chefs are always banging on about a return to simplicity, why not roll up your sleeves and have a go. It just takes know-how and practice.

Filling: The star of the show is the pork filling. Use high-quality, free-range pork, seasoned with pepper, salt, and a touch of jelly. Steeped in tradition, the dolly continues to play a vital role in the process. Made from wood, it provides a mold around which we form the outer case crust of hot water pastry. For the pastry, place the lard, milk and water into a small pan and gently heat until the lard has melted. For those with dietary concerns, it’s essential to know the nutritional information and allergen details of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. Nutritional Information

Making Pies without a Tin

So-called raised pie recipes often tell the domestic cook to raise the dough around a jam-jar. It may well work, but a professional chef should invest in a wooden dolly. The dolly is a cylinder of wood with a handle on top. For a 1lb pie the cylinder should be 23/4in in diameter and 31/2in high, plus the handle. Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe owns a few antique ones, but it also had others run up for it by a local turner. Wood absorbs fat over time and it's easier to prise the raw shell away from it. Brush the top of the pie (not the crimp) with egg and make a hole in lid centre. Chill thoroughly, preferably overnight. Melton Mowbray Pork Pies are perfect for a wide range of occasions, from picnics to family gatherings and celebrations. They add a touch of British tradition to any event. In Conclusion

Now lift your mould & place over the upturned tamper & pastry & holding them together place them the right way up on your worktop. Brush the inner rim of the pastry with egg wash. Fit the lid in place and seal. Make eight thumb-and-forefinger crimps around the edges.

How to raise a pie using a wooden dolly

First thing is to roll out your pastry & cut out a 210mm diameter circle then place your tamper in the middle pull the pastry edges up the sides of the tamper whilst inverting the tamper. Seal the Pie: Add a pastry lid and make a hole in the centre. This open-top design is a signature feature of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie.

In the town's heyday, when there were at least five shops and a factory making the pies, the pork would probably have come from Tamworth pigs. Make a well in the flour and pour in the warm lard mixture. Mix well to combine, until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Knead for a few minutes, then form into a ball and set aside. Preheat the oven to 235¼C/450¼F. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn down the heat to 180¼C/350¼F and continue to bake until the pastry is done - 50-60 minutes more. Remove from the oven and cool.Pastry: The heart of this pie is the hot water crust pastry. It’s robust and capable of holding the filling while remaining deliciously flaky. You’ll need flour, hot water, lard, salt, and egg to create this pastry. To condense hundreds of years of history into a few words, the pork pie connection exists for the following reasons: Remove the dolly by pushing your thumb between it and the pastry and gradually easing it free; it helps to keep turning the dolly.