#cookery

SO, it’s been ages since I’ve taken the time to actually write out a new recipe.  I’d say I haven’t had the time but since I left the regular workforce five years ago, I’ve technically had more time?  But when you’re home all day there’s so much to do—keeping house, making meals, watching an endless stream of movies (heehee)...there’s always something to pop in the oven or wipe down or put away.  I love it, actually, especially compared to commuting 1.5 hours one way—but I think I need to carve out time to do more things that are creatively fulfilling?  I deleted tiktok off my phone to remove that temptation and yesterday I made a pretty labor-intensive pie for the first time in forever.  A new pie!  Not one I’ve made a thousand times!  I wish I’d taken more pictures throughout the process, but it took most of the day and after a while I was just gettin’ through it. 

I started with the pie crust dough—foolishly I thought I’d get it done early and get to the rest later (wrong! I started between 3 & 4 PM and didn’t leave the kitchen until 9) 

Medieval Pie Crust 

𝔗𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔢 𝔣𝔩𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔶 𝔬𝔣 𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔥𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔱𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔰𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔩𝔨𝔢𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔴𝔬 𝔢𝔤𝔤𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔦𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔰 𝔶𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔢. --A Proper New Booke of Cookery 

3 cups flour 

½ cup butter (1 stick)  

1 tsp kosher salt 

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten (save the whites for brushing!!) 

½ cup cold water 

Pinch of saffron 

Crumble the saffron into the water and set aside.  Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until there are only crumb-sized pieces of butter left (you might also use a pastry cutter for this but it is not necessary), then add the salt, egg yolks, and the saffron water.  Mix until entirely incorporated and the dough has become smooth.  You may need to add more water very gradually until it comes together.  If it’s too sticky, more flour. 

Divide the dough into two even portions and, on a floured surface, roll them very thin.  Thinner than that.  THIN, I TELL YOU! (I hate this part) 

Line a lightly buttered pie plate with one of your dough circles, pressing it along all the edges.  Then use a fork to poke holes all over the bottom of the pastry shell.  Place this aside while you start on your filling.  Place your other rolled out dough in the freezer on a baking sheet if you plan on cutting out intricate designs—if you don’t, just pop it in the fridge. 

*Note: You might also use lard in place of butter here, which is what I usually do when making meat pies, but I felt like having a buttery flakey crust. 

So, the filling—as indicated above, I had a medieval pork pie in mind.  BUT I’ve made historically accurate pork pies so many times that frankly it’s gotten boring.  Last week I was feeling very inspired to try making classic French dishes after listening to Ina Garten’s memoir and the Pork Bourguignon was fresh in my mind.  I wanted to make a pie, I wanted to eat that again—it just made sense. SO, to turn Pork Bourguignon into a vaguely medieval meat pie: 

Ingredients: 

3-4 strips thick cut bacon, diced 

2 lbs of nice fatty pork butt, cut into 1-2 inch bitesized-ish pieces 

2 Tbsp butter 

2 Tbsp flour 

1 enormous sweet onion, chopped bigly—I like big chunks of onion but you can dice it if you prefer 

8 oz button mushrooms, diced (I remove the stems. Texture issue. But they are perfectly edible.) 

2 large stalks of celery, diced 

2 cups (ish) of carrots, sliced, carrots are so wildly sized—I let my heart determine how many carrots looks like enough 

A handful of golden potatoes, chopped.  Perhaps about a cup and a half- two cups here as well 

4 fat cloves of garlic, minced (or more) 

½ Tbsp dried thyme 

1 tsp smoked paprika 

Fresh ground pepper 

1 tsp kosher salt (to start) 

½ cup red wine 

1 Tbsp tomato paste 

1-2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, whatever you prefer) 

¼ cup heavy cream 

Preheat your oven to 350F.  

In a large dutch oven pot over medium high heat, cook the bacon completely, then remove and set aside in a large bowl.  In the bacon grease, sear the pork on each side—2 minutes or so per side if it’s immediately sizzling when you place the meat in the pot.  You may need to do it in batches, don’t crowd the pieces.  Once seared on each side, remove from the pot and set it aside in the bowl with the bacon. 

To the pot with the juices from the meat, melt 2 Tbsp of butter.  When the butter has melted and has stopped foaming, stir in the 2 Tbsp of flour to make your roux.  Stir and cook the roux until it turns a deep brown color somewhere between a dark amber and a milk chocolate.  Do not walk away from the roux and don’t stop stirring, if the roux burns, you’ll have to clean it out and start over! 

Once your roux is a lovely shade of brown, turn the heat down to medium/low and add the onions.  Give them about a minute or two head start, stirring them to coat them in the roux then follow with the mushrooms.  Cook these together, stirring often, until the onions become translucent and the mushrooms are releasing their moisture. 

Add in the celery, carrots, potatoes—stir to incorporate.  Allow this to cook for a minute then add in the garlic, thyme, paprika, salt & pepper.  After a minute or two, when the garlic and herbs are smelling delicious, stir in the red wine to deglaze the pot, scraping any stuck on bits off the bottom.  Allow the wine to boil and reduce by about half then stir in the tomato paste. 

Once it is all incorporated, add the bacon and pork back into the pot and stir in the broth.  As much as is needed for everything in the pot to be half submerged, you don’t want it to be too soupy, but you also don’t want it to get too dry during the braising.  This would be a great place to have a photo.  Let’s just say half submerged.  

Put the lid on and pop it into the oven for an hour.  Check on it at this point, if it’s looking too dry you can add more broth.  If it’s looking too much like soup, leave the lid askew a bit to let some of the liquid evaporate.  Return to the oven for another hour, checking on it now and then to stir and mind the liquid level. 

Remove the pot from the oven and check the internal temperature of the pork—it should be at least 145F and will continue to cook in the pie. 

Allow your filling to cool slightly, stir in the heavy cream, taste to see if your filling is salty enough—potatoes soak up salt crazy style—then fill your prepared pie shell.  Cover with the top crust, cutting a few holes for venting steam.  Crimp the edges (better than I have done here) and bush it all over with egg whites for browning. 

Place your pie in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F.  After 30 minutes, check to see how it is browning—if it’s getting too dark, tent the pie with foil before returning it to the oven for 10-15 minutes.  If it’s still looking quite light, turn the heat up to 400F and return to the oven for 10 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and allow the pie to cool slightly to set up a bit before serving.