A pork pie is a traditional English
meat pie
A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide.
Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. M ...
, usually served either at room temperature or cold (although often served hot in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
). It consists of a filling of roughly chopped
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied
pork stock in a
hot water crust pastry.
It is normally eaten as a snack or with a salad.
History
Modern pork pies are a direct descendant of the raised meat pies of medieval cuisine, which used a dense hot water crust pastry as a simple means of preserving the filling. In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
the same recipes gave rise to the modern '. Many medieval meat pie recipes were sweetened, often with fruit, and were meant to be eaten cold: the crust was discarded rather than being eaten. A particularly elaborate and spectacular recipe described in medieval recipe collection ''
The Forme of Cury
''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...
'' was a meat pie featuring a crust formed into
battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...
s and filled with sweet custards, the entire pie then being served
flambeed: a distant descendant of this dish, with hollow pastry turrets around a central pork pie, was still current in the 18th century under the name "battalia pie".
Hannah Glasse
Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...
's influential 1747 recipe collection included a recipe for a "
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
pork pie", having a filling of layers of
pork loin
File:British Pork Cuts.svg, 250px, British cuts of pork
poly 187 219 187 194 173 196 Trotters
poly 372 226 373 207 361 204 359 216 Trotters
poly 171 141 166 104 287 117 294 152 Belly
poly 167 102 178 27 315 23 274 102 Loin
poly 361 201 371 18 ...
and apple, slightly sweetened with sugar, and filled with half a pint (285ml) of
white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...
. By the 19th century sweetened fruit and meat combinations had become less common, and the raised crust pork pie took its modern form.
Types
![Pork pie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Pork_pie.jpg)
Traditional pies use a mix of fat and
cured meat
Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Because curing increases the solu ...
, giving the filling a pink colour. They are often produced in moulds or forms, giving the outside of the pie a very regular shape. This method is simpler and cheaper for volume production, and hence the more common choice for commercial manufacturers.
As the meat shrinks when the pie is cooked, traditional recipes specified that clarified butter or a hot pork
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
was poured into the pie after baking. This would set when cool, filling the gap between meat and pastry and preventing air from reaching the filling and causing it to spoil. Commercial makers use a 6% solution of
gelatin at between , added into the pie immediately after baking.
Melton Mowbray pork pie
![Large pork pie cut in half on a cutting bord made of wood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Large_pork_pie_cut_in_half_on_a_cutting_bord_made_of_wood.jpg)
The Melton Mowbray pork pie is named after
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...
, a town in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
.
While it is sometimes claimed that Melton pies became popular among
fox hunters
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...
in the area in the late eighteenth century,
it has also been stated that the association of the pork pie trade with Melton originated around 1831 as a sideline in a small baker and confectioners' shop in the town, owned by Edward Adcock. Within the next decade a number of other bakers then started supplying them, notably Enoch Evans, a former grocer, who seems to have been particularly responsible for establishing the industry on a large scale. Whether true or not the association with hunting provided valuable publicity, although one local hunting columnist writing in 1872 stated that it was extremely unlikely that "our aristocratic visitors carry lumps of pie with them on horseback".
The main distinctive feature of a Melton pie is that it is made with a hand-formed crust. The
uncured meat of a Melton pie is grey in colour when cooked and the meat is chopped, rather than minced. As the pies are baked free-standing, the sides bow outwards, rather than being vertical as with mould-baked pies. Melton Mowbray pork pies are served at room temperature,
unlike pork pies in Yorkshire which may be served hot.
In the light of the premium price of the Melton Mowbray pie, the
Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association
The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association is a group of pork pie manufacturers in the Melton Mowbray area of England, UK. The association was set up in 1998 with the aim of helping to protect the Melton Mowbray pork pie recipe.
Product protection ...
applied for protection under European
protected designation of origin
The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...
laws as a result of the increasing production of Melton Mowbray-style pies by large commercial companies in factories far from Melton Mowbray, and recipes that deviated from the original uncured pork form. Protection was granted on 4 April 2008, with the result that only pies made within a designated zone around Melton (made within a zone around the town), and using the traditional recipe including uncured pork, are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray name on their packaging.
There is a tradition in the East Midlands of eating pork pies for breakfast at
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
.
While its origin is unclear, the association of pork pies with Christmas dates back to at least the mid-19th century and it was by far the busiest time of year for the Melton manufacturers.
Pork pies in Yorkshire
In
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, pork pies are often served hot, accompanied with gravy or with mushy peas and mint sauce.
It is also a common combination served at
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night is a name given to various annual celebrations characterised by bonfires and fireworks. The event celebrates different traditions on different dates, depending on the country. Some of the most popular instances include Guy Fawkes ...
celebrations.
In Yorkshire
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
a pork pie is sometimes called a "growler",
a term probably derived from the "
NAAFI
The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...
growler" of earlier naval and army slang.
An annual pork pie competition is held in April at The Old Bridge Inn,
Ripponden
Ripponden is a village and civil parish on the River Ryburn near Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Historically it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its population was 6,412 at the time of the 2001 Census, and 7,421 in 2011.
Rippond ...
, Yorkshire.
Variations
![Gala pie interior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Gala_pie_interior.jpg)
The "gala pie" is a variety of pork pie where the filling includes a proportion of chicken and a hard-
boiled egg
Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, ...
(also known as a ''Grosvenor pie''). Gala pies are often baked in long, loaf-type tins, with multiple eggs arranged along the centre.
![Pork and cherry picnic pie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Pork_and_cherry_picnic_pie.jpg)
Smaller, , varieties, sometimes branded as a "
picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
pie", often have additional ingredients added to the filling such as
apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
s,
pickles and
bacon.
In some cases the solid pastry top is replaced by a
pastry lattice, allowing the meat filling to be seen. A recent development is to have a layer of
Branston pickle
Branston is an English food brand best known for the original Branston Pickle, a jarred pickled chutney first made in 1922 in the village of Branston near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire by Crosse & Blackwell. The Branston factory proved to ...
inserted under the lattice crust. Occasionally the top crust is dispensed with altogether in favour of a layer of
cranberries
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...
sealed into place with
aspic
Aspic or meat jelly () is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as ''aspic gelée'' or ' ...
.
See also
*
Pork pie hat
A pork pie hat is one of several different styles of hat that have been popular since the mid-19th century. It features a flat crown that resembles a traditional pork pie.
Buster Keaton and the 1920s
The pork pie began to appear in Britain ...
, so called because of its resemblance to a pork pie
* "Pork pies" (telling "porkies") is
Cockney rhyming slang
Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...
for "lies".
*
Rabbit pie
Rabbit pie is a game pie consisting of rabbit meat in a gravy with other ingredients (typically onions, celery and carrots) enclosed in a pastry crust. Rabbit pie is part of traditional American and English cuisine. It has recently found renewe ...
*
Tourtière
Tourtière (, ) is a French Canadian meat pie dish originating from the province of Quebec, usually made with minced pork, veal or beef and potatoes. Wild game is sometimes used. It is a traditional part of the Christmas ''réveillon'' and New ...
, a Québécois meat pie typically made with pork
*
Meat pie
A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide.
Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. M ...
*
List of pies, tarts and flans
This is a list of pies, tarts and flans. A pie is a baked or fried dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness, sweet or Umami, savory ingredients. A tart is a baked dish con ...
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association an association of pie makers
The Pork Pie Appreciation SocietyPhotos showing the steps in constructing a rather large pork pie''Pork pie''in What Am I Eating? A Food Dictionary
{{Use dmy dates, date=February 2018
British pies
British pork dishes
English cuisine
Savoury pies
Victorian cuisine