Ingredients

• 1kg boned pork shoulder
• 250g pork belly
• 250g streaky bacon
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 bushy sprigs of thyme
• 2 sage leaves
• ½ tsp ground mace
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• 2 good pinches ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp anchovy paste

For the pastry

• 210g lard
• 230g water
• 600g flour
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 x 20cm cake tin

For the stock

• Bones from the pork
• 2 pig's trotters
• 1 onion
• 1 small carrot
• 1 small bunch of parsley stalks
• 1 rib of celery
• 6 black peppercorns

Method

Set the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Chop the pork into small cubes and finely chop the bacon.

Remove the thyme leaves from their stems, add the sage leaves and chop both finely. Mix the herbs into the chopped meats together with the mace, white pepper, nutmeg, anchovy paste and 1 tsp each of salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Make the pastry.

Put the lard and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Sift the flour with a good pinch of salt into a large bowl. Pour the hot lard and water into the flour, mix with a wooden spoon, then leave until cool enough to handle. The pastry must be warm when you start to work it.

Lightly grease and flour your mould or cake tin (with removable bottom). Pull off a quarter of the pastry and roll it into a lid that will fit the top of the cake tin. Roll the remaining pastry to fit the base of the tin. Lay it in the bottom, then firmly push the dough up the sides with your hands. It should spread quite easily. If it slides down, leave it to cool a bit more. Make certain there are no holes or tears. This is crucial, as the jelly will leak out. Spoon the pork filling into the lined cake tin and press it down. It should come almost to the top of the pastry.

Brush the edges of the pastry above the meat with beaten egg. Lower the lid into place and press tightly to seal with the edges. Cut a small hole in the lid to let out the steam and put the tin on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 160C/325F/gas mark 3 and bake for 90 minutes until the pastry is pale gold. Brush with the beaten egg and return to the oven for 30 minutes.
Make the stock.

Put the bones and trotters into a deep saucepan with the onion, carrot, parsley stalks and the celery rib. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and leave the liquid to cook for an hour, watching the water level carefully and topping up where necessary.

Remove from the heat, decant the liquid into a bowl and leave to cool. Refrigerate overnight. If it has set very firmly, simply remove the fat from the top of the stock, transfer to a saucepan and bring to the boil. If it is still on the runny side, remove the fat as before, pour into a saucepan and boil hard until it is reduced to about 400ml. Season carefully with salt.

When the pie is ready, pour the stock into a jug and then pour it carefully through the hole in the top of the pastry. A funnel is invaluable here. Leave the pie to cool, then refrigerate overnight.