Glorious hand raised hot water crackling flavoured crust game pie layered with local venison, pigeon, pheasant, rabbit and a boozy brandy chicken liver pate, this is not only a show stopper pie in presentation but in flavour too, all the rich game layers are sumptuously gorgeous.
I fell in love with this pie after seeing it being made on a old 1980's television re-run called Pie in the Sky, where a detective wants to retire and opens a pie restaurant, his passion was old fashioned traditional historic pies, as soon as I saw him making this pie with this mould I got very excited.
I could not find the mould on line or in any shop and I think the assistants thought I might be a bit cuckoo! so I resigned myself to vintage second hand cooking sites and still no luck, but my husband did find it, it is a French game pie mould and that Christmas I found this tin in my Christmas stocking (yes I am 41yrs old and I still get a stocking from Santa !!!) very happy wife...
OH LA LA THE RAISED GAME PIE
Pie filling
6 pigeon breasts
6 pheasant breasts
400g venison loin
1 whole rabbit
2 shallots fine diced
1 knob of butter
6 sage leaves
Small bunch of thyme
Small bunch of parsley
Small bunch of thyme
Small bunch of parsley
Good pinch of salt & black pepper
Good pinch of mace
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pre heat oven 200 degrees
Pre heat oven 200 degrees
Roughly dice all the game, pan fry the shallots in the butter and add the to game mix with the herbs and seasoning, mace and cayenne, mix well and allow to marinate a hour or so.
Homemade lard
1 kg back fat & skin
To make your own roasted pork crackling flavoured and back fat lard, pop to your local farm shop or butchers and ask for a kilo of back fat and any left over skin to roast at 200 degrees for around one hour, pour off the rendered down lard into a loaf tin and set in the fridge, this makes the most gorgeous flavoured honest lard and adds a huge depth of crackling flavour to your hot water crust.
Hot water crust
100g lard
100g butter
200ml water
550g plain flour
Big pinch of salt
2 eggs beaten
2 eggs beaten
Grease your french pie tin or tin you are using with lard or butter then either roll out your pastry to about the thickness of two pound coins and lay into the the tin and push the pastry into all the folds of the mould, or you can form a ball, keep back 1/4 for the lid, then with the just made hot water crust, place in the centre of the tin and then push the pastry flat on the bottom which will make the pastry rise up, push this into the sides the mould
Chicken Liver Pate
200g chicken livers
1 shallot diced
1 clove of garlic grated
1 clove of garlic grated
1 tbsp butter
1 sprig thyme
50ml brandy
50ml double cream
1 small pinch mace
1 small pinch mace
Sea salt and black pepper
Next make the liver pate by gently sweat off the shallot and garlic in the butter and add the cleaned chicken livers and brown off on a high heat for two minutes, add the brandy and reduce down by half, lower the heat and season with the salt, pepper, mace add the thyme. Cool slightly and place all the ingredients in the blender and pulse, add the double cream until you have a smooth pate, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. For Christmas I add a grating of clementine zest.
Fresh game from the local game keeper off the estate, here I have rabbit, venison, pigeon and pheasant. I always check for buck shot and normally always find one!
Dice all the game into inch square pieces and place in a large bowl add the softened shallots, chopped sage, thyme and parsley along with a generous pinch of sea salt, ground black pepper and mace, mix
well.
Turn this into a terrine
You can also use this game mix to make a terrine, line a terrine dish with bacon, overlapping and hanging over the edge of the terrine fill with this game mix and then fold the bacon over the top, pop the terrine lid on and place in bain marie half filled with water, cook for approx 45 minutes to 1 hour, leave to cool with a weight pressing down on top of the terrine to compact.
Pack the game mix firmly in to half of your pie case, place a generous layer of your chicken liver pate and then finish filling the pie case with the rest of the mixed game, with a little egg wash brush the top and place on the lid, crimp the top by placing your left hand or right hand thumb and first finger at the edge of the pastry and using your other hand first finger push the pastry into the other fingers creating a crimp, repeat all the way round. I like to decorate my pie with some leaves on top and the centre of the pie lid make a hole the size of a pea, this will be for the jelly one the pie has cooked and cooled. Glaze with egg wash and cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees then lower the oven temperature to 150 degrees and cover the top of the pie with foil, cook for another hour and a half.
Now for the reason your pie tin comes in three sections! Place the pie tin on a flat baking tray and gently remove the clips that hold the tin together and remove the sides of the pie tin, I always find this part nerve wrecking as you don't want the sides of the pie to split or all the lovely juices will run out and compromise the quality of the pie. Egg wash the sides and pop back into the oven for fifteen minutes to set the glaze and brown the sides, remove from the oven and leave to cool and then place in the fridge, you will need the pie completely cold when you add the jelly, I often jelly the pie the next day, but you can do it on the same day if you make the pie early enough.
The Jelly
2 pigs trotters
sea salt
black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of thyme
To make the jelly you can do this two ways, the original was is to simmer two pigs trotters from your local farm shop or butcher in 500ml of water with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, a couple of bay leaves and a sprig of thyme, simmer with a lid on for a couple of hours and until the liquid has reduced by half, leave to cool slightly and pour or syringe into the pie until the jelly has filled all the gaps around the pie. The other way is to take a tin of game or beef consume and bring to a simmer take off the heat and add a couple of sheets of gelatin stir until dissolved, leave to cool and then pour into the pie.
Ta da enjoy this festive glorious pie with your family, this is great on boxing day and my husband always looks forward to this.
Looks wonderful. My husband wants to make a raised pie - do you know where you can buy these moulds? I can't find one online. Thank you, Helen
ReplyDeleteHi, ebay sell them, just google french game pie mould and you will find lots to choose from, also Ludlow cook shop .co uk also have some for sale on line, hope that helps.
ReplyDelete