Page 314 - Pie It Forward: Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes, and Other Pastries Reinvented

Pork Pies

MAKES 8
(4- /10- )

’ ’ . Culinarily inclined English
folk and Anglophile Americans have sniffed at my porky exuberance:
“Good pork pies are few and far between, unless you get a genuine
Melton Mowbray (the home of great pork pies),” they say. I can’t
claim any such particularity. If it’s pork in a pastry, I’m in. Whole hog.

But for you, I’m pulling out all the stops. To keep the juices locked
into these individual beauties, I’m forgoing the traditional addition of
aspic (meat Jell-O) to line the inside of the pastry and instead using
prosciutto to provide a thin juice boundary keeping everything inside
moist and tender and at the same time protecting the crust so it
remains flaky. And instead of the super traditional hot-water pastry in
which pork is commonly baked—providing a totally serviceable,

though bland, container—I’m throwing caution to the wind and
breaking out the buttery puff. Oh, heavens above, I’ll have you eating
pork pie weekly by the end of this. Serve these with a jar of
cornichons (tiny pickles) and a small bowl of English mustard.