How to make a classic pork pie

The humble pork pie has held its place in English culinary history for hundreds of years and now it finds itself embroiled in the latest Westminster plot to oust the Prime Minister. This iconic lunchtime staple may look simple to pull off but, just like the current political manoeuvres of SW1A, it’s far from a small undertaking.

Although crust pastry predates the pie itself, it wasn’t pastry as we now know it, but a water-flour-oil mix used by the Romans to cover their meat during cooking. This protected the meat from burning during the cooking process and helped it retain moisture; it wasn’t intended for consumption, and was discarded after baking.

Hot water crust pastry first appeared in the 14th century, mixing much needed fat into the Roman salt dough, and brought with it a wealth of edible possibilities, the pork pie perhaps being that with the most staying power. So if you fancy a little weekend project, here’s a recipe for a proper pork pie, made by hand, right down to the jelly. It’s worth the effort: handsome and golden, it stands tall, packed full of meat and plump with jelly. It is a pork pie to be proud of.

Tips and tricks for the perfect pork pie:

•  Leave the pastry to cool. It is infinitely more workable, and will not slump like some sad thing inside your tin. Be patient when dealing with it: it really is important that there are no holes, and that the pastry is uniformly thick.

• Malt extract: because the main body of the pie doesn’t see the oven directly, there is the risk of only the top browning and the rest of the pastry looking at best, wan or, at worst, a pallid grey. The malt extract helps with this, and also gives the pastry a crispness it might otherwise lack.

• Jelly: I got the best results from doing a two-stage fill.