Pork pie

Hot-water-crust pastry and the firm pork filling are designed to be sliced and served at room temperature or chilled. If it contains jelly, heating can melt it and make the filling runny.

Heat lard with water until the lard has melted, then pour it into flour and salt and mix to a pliable dough. Shape it while warm: it becomes harder to mould as it cools. A traditional pork pie is baked with the filling inside the pastry, then jelly is poured in through a hole after baking.

A traditional Melton Mowbray pork pie has an uncured pork filling and a hand-raised, free-standing hot-water-crust case; it is not baked in a tin. Its sides are often slightly bowed, unlike the straighter sides of many moulded pork pies.

Keep it refrigerated once cut, wrapped or in a covered container so the pastry does not dry out or take on other smells. Follow the use-by date on a bought pie; refrigerate a homemade pie promptly and eat it within two days.

Pickled onions, chutney or piccalilli cut through the rich pastry and pork. Pork pie is also a familiar part of a British cold buffet or picnic, often served with salad.

A gala pie is a larger, sliced pork pie with a line of hard-boiled eggs running through the centre. An ordinary pork pie usually has just its pork filling, often with jelly between the meat and pastry.

You can freeze pork pie, preferably in portions wrapped tightly to protect the pastry. Thaw it in the fridge and serve it cold; freezing may soften the pastry and affect the texture of the jelly.