It would be no porkie to state, loud and proud, that Yorkshire is the pork pie capital of Britain, if not the universe. I’m told that there’s a place called Melton Mowbray that reckon they can make ’em too. But if you ask the Pork Pie Appreciation Society (based in Yorkshire) where the best pork pies come from – based on the results of their annual and nationwide competition – they will say ‘Yorkshire!’ And particularly from around Huddersfield and Wakefield areas that seem to nurture winning pie makers. So, we do like our pork pies, and here’s an old recipe with its origins in the Huddersfield area.
Ingredients
- 2 oz (50g) lard
- 2 oz (50g) butter
- 12 oz (340g) plain flour
- 1 egg
- 2 lb (32 oz/900g) pork (shoulder and/or belly)
- Fresh sage
- Salt & pepper
- Stock (see below)
Method
- Mince the pork and add a quarter teaspoon of chopped sage and seasoning
- To make the pastry melt the lard and butter in 5 fl oz (quarter pint) of hot water, and bring it to the boil.
- Remove from the heat and pour the liquid into the sifted flour.
- Mix it quickly, and beat in the egg. It’s best to work in a warm kitchen to keep the pastry warm
- Again, working quickly, line a well-greased 8″ (20 cm) firm based cake tin with the warm pastry. Keep enough pastry back to make the lid. (Lining the cake tin evenly and generously with grease-proof paper will make the pie easier to lift out of the tin after cooking when cold)
- Fill the pie with the pork and cover with the pastry lid, sealing and crimping it well. Make a small hole in the centre of the pie – using the stem of a small funnel that you will use later will ensure the right size of hole. You can add, if you wish, small rosettes of surplus pastry around the hole to disguise it. You can glaze the pastry top with a beaten egg if you like, although this will result in an uneven colour to the pie as a whole when it’s removed from the tin.
- Bake the pie for two hours in a moderate oven (around gas mark 4/350 F/180 C)
- In the meantime, make the stock by boiling up two pig’s trotters with a spoonful of mixed herbs in around a litre of water. Simmer the stock for about an hour or longer until it reduces to around half a pint. Allow it to cool a little.
- Using a small funnel, slowly and carefully pour the warm stock into the cooked pie through the hole made in the top you made previously
- Allow the pie to grow cold before turning it out of the tin.
Source: adapted from Catherine Rothwell. Traditional Yorkshire Recipes (1997) Aurora Publications
18 Responses to ‘A Genuine Yorkshire Pork Pie’
I’m an ex-pat Englishman (half Yorkshire!) and I now live in the food desert of Sweden. I have no option but to roll my sleeves up and make my own Yorkshire Pork Pies. The locals have sampled them and love them. My recipe is very similar to yours. I add the seasonings to the pork (a mix of minced pork belly and diced pork shoulder) at the rate of 2% of the weight of the pork in salt, and 0·2% of the weight of pork in both black pepper and dried sage. I mix the seasonings with the pork and then place it, covered, into the fridge for 24 hours before making the pies. This gives a partial-cure which serves to enhance the flavour.
I also roast some pork bones that I add to the stock along with the split trotters, an onion and some black peppercorns. Yorkshire pork pies are the food of the gods and a million times better than those tasteless things from Melton Mowbray. Oh, and I also make my own sausages (and sausage rolls), cure (and cold smoke) my own bacon, make steak and kidney pies, and bake my own bread, crumpets, Derbyshire oatcakes and English muffins. I’ll not go hungry!
You can take the man out of Yorkshire, but you will never take the Yorkshire out of the man! I can understand why the locals beat a path to your door.
Hi Alan just read your piece on making your own pork pie which I’m going to give a go I’m also interested in making sausage can i ask what did you use for the sausage casing many thanks I’m in yorkshire gods own country x
Hi, Pauline.
Sorry to be so late in answering. I hope you made a nice pork pie, I’ve actually stopped mincing my pork; I just cut it into very small chunks instead, which I think improves the mouth feel.
For sausage casings I mainly use hog’s casings (which I source from my supermarket here in Sweden). A butcher in Northallerton told me, on my last visit to Yorkshire, that they always use sheep’s casings, which I cannot readily source over here. I have also tried collagen casings from Weschenfelder (online) which also work very well.
Much love to Yorkshire from Skåne.x
Thank you for expounding the Northen version of Pork Pies, as opposed to that grey cold lump from the midlands aka Melton Mowbray! i have understood that the 2 key differences between the species are a) Northern pies are served warm preferably and b) the meat is pink as it has been cured ie the minced bork is mixed with a small quantity of pork pie curing salts.Available from Weschenfelder in the uk. This makes all the difference !
I have nowt against Melton Mowbray or their pies which I find tasty. I can be pro-Yorkshire without being anti-anyone else!
However, it’s true that to most Yorkshire women making your own pork pies, especially for a Christmas breakfast, is something one learns early. It’s a heritage food for sure.
I’ve made my own pies for many years as even the artisan pies, made with great care and easily edible, are not a patch on those I knock up in my kitchen.
I’ve found there are as many variations as there are families: some add mace, others nutmeg; some say ham, others add bacon. The main ingredient is the love and care you take in preparation.
These are fantastic notes on the famous Yorkshire pie, thank you! My grandfather (Lionel Garside) had a bunch of butcher shops in Yorkshire back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s… 7 or 8 shops at one point I believe…. and the pork pies were apparently his featured item.. I believe I may have just found the only known copy of his pie recipe in an old taped up box with pie tins in my parents basement (both my parents recently passed away)… I’ve yet to open this box, but am excited to see what might be inside! That said, it seems the Yorkshire pie is in no way a lost art form, so thanks again for these wonderful notes!
Would you be willing to share the family recipe please, I dream about those hot pies, with peas and a little vinegar.
John 21 crosswinds@gmail.com
The pastry formed well in my 6-in cake tin and I hope to have a real nice deep pie and do a lot to it salt and pepper plenty of it and fresh sage from the garden over here in Florida I’ll let you know
hi. I’ve just stumbled across your 2020 response to, Yorkshire recipes, regarding your heritage and garsidebutchers, I remember them well, best I ever tasted, I am now retired and living in South Wales, where I’ve been searching for a decent pork pie for 24yrs now, still no luck. I do try my own which are quite nice. but cannot touch the genuine pie I used to buy from your parents, mmmm.
I was wondering,did you open the box you mentioned, and was the recipe there. if by any miracle it was, I was wondering if you’d be willing to share it with an ageing yorkshireman who would dearly love to once again taste the wonder of Garsides pork pies. I’m salivating writing this. fingers crossed in anticipation of reply, many thanks, Ian Fuller
Sounds intriguing. I can’t say I’ve tried a Yorkshire pork pie but agree with many that the famed melton ones lack something. No jelly for one.
Hopefully you / we will get a favourable response.
My daughter and I have made a pork pie for many years it has become a tradition for Christmas breakfast . This was started by my Paternal grandfather who was a butcher. It tastes delicious but fluid always comes out of the top and all over the pastry . I’ve tried mopping up as I go along . But it does the beautiful decoration on top that my daughter makes from the surplus pastry . What am I doing wrong
Nothing wrong it’s supposed to be like that
Make my own pork pies in Australia. Been here since 1990. Had a tradition start when married and in our own home. My uncle would call on Christmas Eve with presents for our kids. He would say I’ll be down later when the kids are bed. Make sure you have pork pie and Wimsol.(Vodka and Lime.) Wimsol was a bleach produced in Keighley with a green tinge.😂😂 Tought my son and son in law how to make the the pies. So the tradition will continue to remember my deceased Uncle. Recipe was from Philip Smith’s butchers from Bradford with a few tweeks.
A true Yorkshire pork pie contains NO HERBS!!!
Now then, Phil, lad. Even a Yorkshire-man compromises occasionally! A bit of fresh sage won’t kill you!
I found this delightful site looking for an explanation of oven bottom cake which was referenced in one of my favourite novels.
Although I am a second generation Canadian, three of my four grandparents were British born and raised and my life was happily infused with stories and visions of “a green and pleasant land” Parkin, properly made tea, the Queen’s Christmas speech, cream toffees, bluebell woods, Beatrix Potter and Yorkshire Pork Pie for Christmas morning breakfast.
It is now 115 years since my Yorkshire great grandmother came to Canada with her two young children but all of her descendants make her pork pie. It is virtually the same recipe, but we cut the pork into small cubes and use salt and pepper only. I also make extra jelly so I can put a scoop on top of each succulent slice.
Thank you for a wonderful website! It’s made my day!
If you can make a genuine Yorkshire pork pie, Lisa, you certainly deserve the title of being an honorary Yorkshire woman!