Ingredients
450g plain four
1 teaspoon salt
200g lard
225ml milk and water, in equal proportions
2 duck breasts
2 pheasant breasts
4 wood pigeon breasts
200g pork shoulder, minced
2 guinea fowl breasts
8 juniper berries
50g redcurrant jelly
4 tablespoons sloe gin
2 gelatine leaves
100ml game stock
1 egg yolk (to glaze)
Seasoning
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
- To make the pastry, first warm a mixing bowl and sift the flour and salt into it. Make a well in the centre. Heat the lard in the milk and water in a saucepan over a medium heat until just reaching boiling point, then pour into the well in the flour and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until thick.
- Continue working by hand to form a smooth dough. Cool slightly, then use the dough to line a greased 20cm tin, keeping some of the dough for the lid separately in a warm place. Put the tin onto a tray.
- Cut all of the game breasts into strips lengthways approximately 5mm thick. Season the pork and the game meats. Now layer the pork and breast meats inside the pie case, repeating until all the meats have been used. Brush the rim of the pastry with the egg yolk and put on the lid cutting a small hole in the centre (through which the jelly will be poured when the pie is cooked), then seal round the edges.
- Egg wash the lid and cook the pie in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Towards the end of the cooking time for the pie, soak the leaf gelatine in a little cold water, until soft. Then bring the game stock, sloe gin and redcurrant jelly to the boil in a small saucepan, then remove the pan from the heat and add the soaked gelatine, whisking until this is dissolved. Add the juniper berries and allow to cool a little without setting.
- After the pie has been removed from the oven, use a funnel to pour the sweet jelly through the hole in the lid, into the pie. Allow to cool, then refrigerate overnight. The jelly will set in a similar way to that in a traditional pork pie. Enjoy!