GLORIOUS RAISED HOT WATER CRUST MIXED GAME PIE WITH BRANDY CHICKEN LIVER PATE

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

Good pinch of salt & black pepper

Good pinch of mace

Pinch of cayenne pepper
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

Melt the butter and lard in the water and bring up to a simmer, don't let it boil.  In a large bowl whisk, or sieve the flour and add the salt, make a dip in the centre and add the beaten eggs, using a knife cut the eggs into the flour roughly, add the hot water butter lard mix and gently bring together, knead for one minute to bring to a shinny glossy dough ball, wrap in paper and chill for thirty minutes if you are going to roll out the pastry to line the tin, if you are going to use the old fashioned method of hand raising the pastry use immediately, directions below.

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 tbsp butter

1 sprig thyme

50ml brandy

50ml double cream
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.