h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought I'd make a this week. I've done it a few times before. The first time I tried to do it the proper way with a hand-raised crust. I shan't be doing that again for a while I don't have a dolly for raising the crust so I used a jam jar. What a 'mare trying to get the pastry off that thing in one piece.

There are quite a few recipes on the interwbz that suggest making it in a springform pan, and that's what I did the second time - much better Although also much bigger. You wouldn't think bigger would be an issue where is concerned , but you can get weary of eating one of those for several days, believe me.

But that's what I'm going to do anyway, and perhaps freeze half of it. And since I'll have the oven on anyway and I'm more than half way through my loaf of bread I might as make a loaf too. And I'm also about half way through my currant cake so I suppose I could make another one, or perhaps some buns.

Either way I reckon it's going to be an early start in the morning to get all this baking done before it gets up into the 90s outside (it took until about 1pm to do that today), but that won't be a problem because there'll be cricket commentary to listen to starting at 5am

Although I don't think I'll be getting up quite that early

ooo! coincidence.... sort of...a omost....

I bought some porkpies a few days back, and although they were 'alright', and sort of quite tasty... I lamented their poor cousin appearance, in my mind, when compaired to my aunt's home made 'game' pork pies (not entirely sure what she puts in them, but I know venison and rabbit I think), and anyhow, despite her unusal ish filling, her's has always got the most* amazing pastry, and I was starting to have a vague notion of the start of a thought about the merest kind of inkling at an idea, of maybe getting round, one day, to have a bash at making my own
I'd be quite tmepted, if I do, to see if I could get (inexpensive) smaller tins, to make em in... so could make a few dozen at a time, and freeze a bunch

I may have to ask for a recipie, heck I've not even got round to looking at recipies yet, and I've not a clue what sort of pastry that is, used for porkpies damint, I'll jsut have to buy more of the non home-made ones, on Saturday your a bad bad person!

Me? A bad person? Surely not

Well, okay, but I blame 2legs

Yes.

And just how* bad; I actually drempt of porkpies last night! seriously...

I was in some strange kitchen (well, new and clean so not at all like any kitchen I've ever used ),

There was a massive oval serving dish, with several very* large pork pies on it...

I took one off, and put it onto a smaller plate, and sliced it up into segments (at which point I really* knew it must be a dream, as I got the slices all the same size, something I am utterly unable to do in RL/wakefullness)

loverly audio in the dream too; that* sound, of slicing a pork pie, with a really* chrisp, decent pastry on it, and then the soft, slight sound, of going through the jelly, and then through the main filling

I then appeared to be making a full sort of 'tea' type thing, as before long there were plates of cucumber sandwichs, and a stack of cakes on a proper cake stand type thing and, a pot of fresh brewed tea

sadly the dream changed to a more useual X-rated theme, just before* I got to taste the pork pie! Sex and food in a single nights lucid (not lucid enough, or I'd have tasted the porkpie though) dreaming... a therapist would have a life-long job disecting my sub-conscious

I seem to have three rashers of bacon left over after cutting up the 250g required by the recipe. Now what should I do with those I wonder?

I relaly have absolutely no idea
I couldn't face using the frying pan earlier, it ws just too* hot so I had some fo the rather tasty chicken breast meat, which I roast a few days back (during a brief spell of cold), in a sandwich I'm hoping we hit another spot cool enough to have the oven on for half an hour at the weekend, so I can roast another batch of chicken breasts, just to have some cold, ready cooked meat, for going in sandwich, and with salads in the evening, whilst its too hot to cook

Progress report, 10.30am.

Bread dough kneaded and set to rise
Ingredients for Bath buns weighed
Ingredients for pork pie weighed (pork was diced and seasoned last night)
Breakfast of bacon, egg on toast and fried tomatoes
Bread dough knocked back and set to prove
Flour and butter for bath buns rubbed in and put in the fridge to cool
Australia 114 for 9 at Lords, still need 47 to avoid the follow-on

12 noon.

Bread out of the oven, pork pie in
Bun dough on first rise
Australia all out for 128 (233 behind), England 23 for 2 not enforcing the follow-on
Looking at a sinkful of washing up

Outside temperature 90°F/32.2°C.

12.15pm

Realised that I forgot to add the sugar to the bread dough Frantically trying to knead it in and put the dough back to rise

2pm

Well, I have one almighty sticky mess of a dough after adding the sugar late in the day, but I sure ain't wasting all that flour, milk, butter and egg. You know me better than that, right? I'm having buns one way or another.

Buns divided and sitting on a sheet pan under plastic on their second rise (fingers crossed), pork pie has about another 20 minutes in the oven... and smells

Temperature outside 92F/33.3C.

do you have air con? I can't imagine having the oven on, when its high 20s, C, let alone into the 30s... had chicken ceaser salad for dinner, with the already cooked chicken I had in the fridge, so didn't need to have any heat on to make dinner icecream to finish off... and I must* get more icecream in...

Oh yes, I have a/c. There are people in Texas who mange to live without it, and not all of them are Hispanic, but they are pretty much all poor, for one reason or another. I've tried going a day without a/c and relied on fans alone but it's pretty unpleasant, and yet it was largely Germans who settled Texas, but Germany isn't noted for having a climate as hot as this, nor for regularly tipping the 100°F mark One good thing about it though is that despite the best efforts of the religionists, beer is a way of life here, more so than in other southern states leastways

Ironically, I've had to open the front door and all the windows and let the Texas heat in and the lovely cool air out. There must be a leak somewhere in the pastry because there's a lot of fat in the tray and it's started smoking pretty badly as I've turned up the oven for the buns. I've had to pull the tray out and put it on the balcony. Man, it sure made my eyes sting Perhaps the pie isn't going to be as moist as it should be with the loss of all that lovely flavoursome fat.

The pie filling doesn't look like it's shrunk the way it's supposed to so I might not be able to get the gelatinised stock in there for the jelly Maybe it'll shrink as it cools down

Any road up...

Pie is out of the oven and buns are in.
Washing up is done
Just got to take the buns out and put them on a cooling rack, and my work here is done

Yep, there was a pretty good pool of pork fat in the drip tray, and since it's gone past its smoke point it won't be much good for anything

But, the oven is off (3.32pm), the smoke has cleared and it's time to enjoy the fruits of my labours in the shape of a cup of and a still-warm currant bun

I've just been reading about them. I had no idea that the jelly that appears in a is the result of such a conscious effort to get it in there! I thought it just came naturally from the meat in the filling, or summat.

I'd like a slice now, too. With a nice pickle of some sort.

:Thinks: If the fat leaked out because there's a hole somewhere in the pastry shell, there's not much point in pouring stock in the top of the pie

Could you cheat? Wrap the base in foil, perhaps?

Locate the hole in teh pastry, and glue it closed with superglue? Gaffa tape?

So... from what you've said, that is a revalation to me also; the 'jelly', that lovingly cuddles the meat filling, of a porkpie, and provides a protective barrier betwix pastry and filling, is kinda added in afterwards? how do you get it in, assuming the pie is baked (minus jelly), with the 'lid' on it?
*thinks*

I always have teh same trubble when I make quiche, try as I may, with the loose bottom quiche pan no matter how hard I try, I inevitably get the filling leaking (I assume through a gap in the pastry, despite normally blind baking it first), then through the loose bottom on the quiche tin.... For this reason, I useually stick my anchient old roasting tin (the one I only really use for generating steam in the oven when making bageuttes), right at the bottom of the oven; it collects any liquid that falls through, and within a few mins of cooking anyhow, the filling of the quiche sets enough to stop leaking, and I can remove the old roasting tray from the bottom of teh oven, before it beings to burn and smoke

Tinfoil would be a possibility but I don't know if the pie will stand being let out of the pan. I might have to slice it in situ. Although the recipe I used calls for a pan the same size as mine, and although I made a little more pastry than the recipe says, it still needs more, which is probably why there's a leak - I had to stretch the pastry too thin. I shall up the quantities next time.

Yep, the jelly goes in through the hole in the top once the pie has cooled down, which is probably why I should have made the pie yesterday because I intended a slice of it for my dinner tonight, and I doubt the jelly will have time to set within the next hour or two. Ideally the jelly should be a stock made with pigs trotters for a good pork flavour and plenty of pork gelatin, but those are next to impossible to get here except maybe at a farmers market, so I use chicken stock and gelatin.

The pie's out of the springform and sitting on a plate. It looks like the fat came out of the join between the walls and the lid, and now that the pie has cooled down that join might be sealed up with fat. The bottom looks intact, so I'm going to take a chance and add some of my chicken stock with a sachet of gelatin mixed in and hope a) that it doesn't come out through a hole I can't see and b) not take too long to set because I'm getting hungry