Making meat pies like in shops

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kasfig

Assistant Cook
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Mar 21, 2014
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Dear Forum members
I wish to make meat pies just like the commercially made ones one buys from the bakers shops in England (at least in the north west of England where I live. )
These pies have a particular dimension with straight sides. One also finds many pork pies are in identical size too. I've been looking to for the recipe (for the meat pie) but dont know how to find one.
I attach a link to a webpage that shows the kind of pie I want to make.

British food: protect and serve | Life and style | theguardian.com

I have been looking for the right pie tin but noticed the pies in the picture are not made in a pie tin rather they seem to be cooked "free standing" . I presume they must have been pressed into shape prior to cooking.
Please can anyone advise which equipment is used to make this particular pie, how I can get it, and what the recipe is.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Ian
 
Hi, Ian. Welcome to DC :)

I'm not familiar with British meat pies, but we have a few UK members who might be able to help you. I'm sure someone will be along soon.
 
Hi Ian. Welcome to DC.

It looks like you'll need a fairly stiff dough to hold the filling until it's baked.
 
Dear Andy & gotgarlic
I hope specific info comes along but thank you for your helpful pointers
Ian
 
I have been looking for the right pie tin but noticed the pies in the picture are not made in a pie tin rather they seem to be cooked "free standing" . I presume they must have been pressed into shape prior to cooking.
Please can anyone advise which equipment is used to make this particular pie, how I can get it, and what the recipe is.
Ian, when in doubt about British food, I always look to Delia:
Old-fashioned Raised Pork Pies - Pie - Recipes - from Delia Online

According to her recipe, the pies are baked for 30 minutes in a muffin tin, then carefully removed and baked further to crisp up the sides and bottoms.
 
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Hi Ian. Welcome to DC.

It looks like you'll need a fairly stiff dough to hold the filling until it's baked.

Welcome to DC. I hope one of your countrymen or women come to your rescue. The filling for the pie seems straight forward. It is the shape of the pie that requires some attention. I like the idea of forming the shape of the container part of the pie around a wooden bowl. From the picture of the maker of the original pie maker in your picture, it looks like you would need a straight sided bowl to shape it.

Have you considered contacting this gentleman and asking him where he got his pie tins and would you be able to get them also? Plus the cost. :angel:
 
To everyone who answered thank you so much. Thanks for the link DC saute
and Steve.
Addie I think I might just take up that advice.
I also just saw a useful youtube video here

How to make Pork Pies {www downloadshiva com} - YouTube

I see commercial equipment seems to be used. Does anyone know what the plastic paper type stuff is that was used. Also the machine that is used - what is it called. Where I might be able to get this equipment I don't know

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated thanks
Ian
 
Dear Forum members
I wish to make meat pies just like the commercially made ones one buys from the bakers shops in England (at least in the north west of England where I live. )
These pies have a particular dimension with straight sides. One also finds many pork pies are in identical size too. I've been looking to for the recipe (for the meat pie) but dont know how to find one.
I attach a link to a webpage that shows the kind of pie I want to make.

British food: protect and serve | Life and style | theguardian.com

I have been looking for the right pie tin but noticed the pies in the picture are not made in a pie tin rather they seem to be cooked "free standing" . I presume they must have been pressed into shape prior to cooking.
Please can anyone advise which equipment is used to make this particular pie, how I can get it, and what the recipe is.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Ian
Lakeland (the kitchen shop) do a small baking tin for "raised" pork pies - approx. 4" diameter but they can be made without a tin. However, from experience I can promise you - you will only do it once!

You make "raised" pies (which don't have to be pork. Beef, game or even fruit pies were made this way) with "hot water" pastry. Traditionally the pastry was moulded round a wooden "dolly" like these
3 x Vintage Wooden Kitchen or Butcher's Tool: Pork Pie Dolly Mould | eBay

but you can just as well use the bottom of a glass milk bottle or jam jar (you don't cook the pastry on the mould so the glass doesn't matter). Some recipes suggest that you put a "collar" of paper tied on with string to hold the shape in the oven until the pastry has set and then remove it so the pastry browns. It's fun to try it but really much easier, if less authentic, to use the baking tin.


Unfortunately my recipes are all stashed in one of several boxes in the storage locker so I can't help you with a recipe. If you look for "raised pork pie" in a cookery book or on Google you should find what you are looking for. A Melton Mowbray pork pie is a specific variety of meat pie which comes from Leicestershire.


Hope this helps.


Incidentally, where in the NW are you? (If you don't mind me asking.)
 
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To everyone who answered thank you so much. Thanks for the link DC saute
and Steve.
Addie I think I might just take up that advice.
I also just saw a useful youtube video here

How to make Pork Pies {www downloadshiva com} - YouTube

I see commercial equipment seems to be used. Does anyone know what the plastic paper type stuff is that was used. Also the machine that is used - what is it called. Where I might be able to get this equipment I don't know

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated thanks
Ian
I saw this after I had posted my previous reply. Unless you are going to be making pies on an industrial scale you don't need any of the equipment shown. It can all be done by hand with everyday kitchen equipment. You could use clingfilm or baking parchment in place of the catering plastic sheets that the video showed. It's just used to make rolling out easir.

Incidentally, the demonstration seemed to leave out the ingredient that makes a Melton Mowbray pie the real thing - anchovy essence. Not enough to make the pie taste fishy but just enough to season it. Here's a fairly straightforward recipe:-
Melton Mowbray style pork pie-
 
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I love this thread. Fascinating subject. I had never heard of these, only the pasties. My first husband was from the Lakes District in Cockermouth. He would often talk of the foods he had as a child.

Mad Cow, after looking at the molds, are the big ones family size? Or are these pies only made as individual ones? :angel:
 
I love this thread. Fascinating
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cockermouth+photo&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=svsuU4C8D86AhAe504DwAQ&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1301&bih=538
subject. I had never heard of these, only the pasties. My first husband was from the Lakes District in Cockermouth. He would often talk of the foods he had as a child.

Mad Cow, after looking at the molds, are the big ones family size? Or are these pies only made as individual ones? :angel:
The commercial pies come in sizes from "dinky" - small enough for a (generous) mouthful - up to the large ones (10-12 inch diameter) on deli counters sold by the wedge. The little tins/pans I mentioned are basically cake tins and I've used various sizes of loose-bottomed cake pans for family-sized pies. Not sure about the wooden moulds as I haven't seen any "in the flesh".

Here you are - Photos of Cockermouth (including the flooding)
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=c...8D86AhAe504DwAQ&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1301&bih=538
 
I used to be able to buy Cornish Meat Pasties in Grass Valley CA (in the US) and they were delicious! Evidently Grass Valley had had a large Cornish population and this tradition hung on in a bakery there.

I know they aren't meat pies---- but similar.

Here's a recipe for them but I don't know how authentic they are.

Farmgirl Fare: Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Traditional English Cornish Pasties with Beef, Onion, Potatoes, and Carrots

I wish I had some now!
The Cornish pasty is now protected by EU legislation:-
Pasty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The world is falling about our ears but the European Union has it's priorities. :ermm:
 
Thank you MC for the pictures. The Pirate had me save the email so he can send it to his site. His father told him lots of stories of his childhood in Cockermouth. :angel:
 
Thank you for your links! I was always wondering how to make such a delicious pies and finally found the recipe.
 

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