Melton Mowbray Pork Pies

More About This Recipe

• Melton Mowbray Pork Pie – what a mouthful. A mouthful of deliciousness, that is! Sometimes when I’m reading a fantasy book, I like to think what I would cook in that world. For books like The Hobbit, the answer is pretty easy since the characters focus so much on food! I would like to think that Frodo and Bilbo would happily pull a chair up to my table if these pork pies were in the oven! These pies are based on a classic British pork pie that is very involved to make. It requires baking and cooling and making an aspic out of boiled pork bones. I used a shortcut method, but the results are still delicious! There aren't a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but it’s all about execution. For your pork you can use boneless ribs or shoulder and cut it into chunks. Try to split the pork into fatty pieces and lean pieces. The fat pieces are important to make the gravy, but we’ll only use the lean pieces in the pie so it isn’t too fatty. You could make the pastry from scratch, or refrigerated pie crust works too. While the original version of this recipe actually calls for piping the gravy (or aspic) into the pies, I like to just serve it on the side so people can add it as they like. This is a totally filling dinner and if you serve it with a salad or something, one pie can easily feed two people. Or one very hungry hobbit.