On 9/17/2023 at 10:17 AM, Tropicalsenior said:To find a good recipe for meat pies you might want to look for recipes from the UK. They've been doing them for centuries and seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. Whenever I see them on programs, I always think that I would like to make some pork pies. Then I read through a mountain of recipes and decide maybe not. However, it seems that most of them use lard or a combination of lard and butter, and they use the hot water method to make them. Here is one recipe that I found that seems to be what you might want.
If you have problems with pastry shrinking, it isn't the recipe it is the way in which you handle the dough. When placing it in your molds, you have to be very careful that you don't stretch the dough as you put it in. Make sure that the bottom is pressed flat then gently shape it up the sides without stretching it. That way it will be completely pressed into your form and will not stretch out when the heat hits it.
It seems to me that this would be an excellent idea for a cook-off. Aren't we just about due?
Actually, such a Cook-off already exists. It would be lovely to see it revived. Jump on in, folks!
Edited to add: there are delicious ideas and photos in that topic. 🙂
