Raised Game Pie

Old-fashioned Raised Game Pie is something a bit different for me to make. It’s the first time I have made hot water crust pastry with lard and the pressure in on once the pastry is made as you need to work with it when its still warm, as it cools it tends to crumble and you can see the wee patch I had to do on the top of my pie due to a tear appearing when I was sealing the pastry lid. Looks like something you maybe served at Downton Abbey....well...perhaps not mine

I used chunks of venison for my pie and as I could not get my hands on some pheasant I used some ostrich meat instead which I found in Tescos.

500g lean pork shoulder, diced into 1cm cubes 375g minced belly of pork 100g smoked streaky bacon rashers, finely sliced 8 breasts of partridge, or 4 of pheasant or guinea fowl, skinned (I used 600g of cubed venison and 300g of Ostrich meat. 2 blades of mace 12 sage leaves, finely sliced 1 egg, beaten Starting with the pastry, pour 300ml of water into a stainless-steel saucepan, add the lard and salt and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. When the lard has completely melted, add the flour and icing sugar and beat it in thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Turn the warm dough out onto a clean surface, make a well in the centre and break in the egg. Knead the egg into the dough by pulling in the sides of the pastry over the eggy surface, pushing down, turning and repeating. It will incorporate quite quickly so continue kneading until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes Remove a quarter of the dough, pat it into a disc and set aside to cool. Form the remaining dough into a large disc, place that into the bottom of a 24cm spring form tin and slowly and carefully work the pastry up the sides of the pan with your finger tips, making sure there are no holes or gaps. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 200˚C / Gas Mark 6. Place the pork, bacon, mace and sage into a large bowl, season with a good pinch each of salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix together until all is well combined. Place half the meat filling into the pastry shell, but don't pack it in too tightly – leave a little room around the edges. Season the meat and lay them overlapping the pork and then top them with the remaining filling, dome like, leaving a small gap around the sides to tuck the lid into.

Roll out the remaining pastry into a 25cm disc, and drape it over the top of the filling. Dampen the pastry edges with the beaten egg and pinch together to seal well all around. Make a hole in the centre of the pie, brush the top with the beaten egg and place onto a baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180˚C / Gas Mark 4 and cook for a further 45 minutes. If the pie begins to colour too much, cover it with a sheet of foil.

Remove the pie from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes before removing the spring form ring. Brush the sides of the pie with a little more beaten egg and return to the oven for 10 minutes more. It should be crisp and a lovely golden brown all over.

below is a picture of some raised pies with seventeen century designs....real works of art