Hot water Pastry.

Now this pastry is that fantastic pastry that you get on pork pies or raise d game pies. the sort of thing that you take on a picnic on a summers day and sit back and watch the world go by on long summer days .Or a Christmas buffet with a game pie filled with all kinds of meat layered to show of to your gusts .

The thing you have to know about it is that it will dry out very quickly once you start to work with it. Also do not cool it to much or it will go rock hard and be impossible to work and by the time it is ready to work, it will have dried out. Os know what you are going to do with it them make it and use it.

The ingredients
225g or 8oz of plain flour
half a teaspoon of salt, or a good pinch or two.
1egg beaten
100ml or 3 and a half fl oz of water
40g or 1 and a quarter oz butter
40g or 1 and a quarter oz lard

Sift the flour in to a blow and then add the egg. Now I was told that you should cover the egg with the flour but I normally mix it in slightly as when you add the water you run the risk of cooking the egg. Then take your water and fats and place them in a pan and boil them together. Do not let it boil for a long time just so that the fat melts in to the water. In fact, if you cut the fat up and bring it to the boil, the fat should have melted in that time. Once your liquid is boiling, add this to the flour and egg and mix together as fast as you can till you get a wonderful shiny ball of pastry. Rap and chill it for about ten minuets so it easy to handle and of you go.

The thing about this kind of pasty is that it can be formed and shaped in to moulds and shapes that will hold up. Take a jar and mould some of the pastry round the base of it and you have the start of your pork pie or if you have a spring mounted tins that you can use all the better, or a cake tin with one of those release catches on the side. It is a bit like using a child's modelling clay to use to start with. You can roll it just like ordinary pastry. Just take your pastry and leave about one third for the lid and line what ever you want with the other two thirds .Re-wrap the pastry that you have put aside for the lid so that it will not dry out and start to line what ever you want to line with the rest. Once you have lined what you want to line take it and just chill it for a while with out covering it. The pastry will stat to harden and you will find that it will set around what you are moulding it to. Then add the filling that you are wanting for the pie and then add the lid. Wet the edge of the lined pastry case, roll out the lid, and place that on top sealing it firmly to the case. Then bake as and when you want. If you so wish you can remove the outer cases if it is a spring-mounted mould, glaze the whole thing, and bake. The pastry should be robust enough to stand on its own with out support.

This is a good durable pastry that also can be made in to small moulds of pastry cases that you can glaze and bake for canapés with drinks if you wish as well. But for me it will never be beaten in a pork pie a glass of beer and some cheese, pickle and fresh crusty bread in a ploughman's lunch.