Black Pudding Pork Pie with Homemade Brown Sauce

Making the traditional pork pie even more irresistible with rich black pudding and topped off with proper British homemade brown sauce. This recipe is perfect for an impressive starter.

Preparation Time: 50 minutes

Cooking Time: 3 hours

Servings: 12

Ingredients

Pork Pies:

• -1kg pork mince
• -300g black pudding
• -250g bacon, diced
• -1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• -1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
• -2 pinched ground nutmeg
• -1 tsp salt
• -1 tsp pepper
• -450g plain flour
• -125g strong flour
• -170g lard
• -30g butter
• -220ml water
• -1 egg, whisked
• -6 gelatine leaves
• -300ml chicken stock

For the Sauce:

• -500g pitted dates
• -1 onion, finely chopped
• -2 garlic cloves, minced
• -1 red chilli, deseed and finely chopped
• -1 orange, juiced
• -80ml cloudy apple juice
• -80ml malt vinegar
• -50g molasses
• -50g tamarind paste
• -30g tomato paste

Method

• 1.Preheat the oven at 180C.
• 2.For the pork pie filling, mix the pork, black pudding, bacon, sage, thyme, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a large bowl until fully combined.
• 3.For the pastry, heat the water and lard in a saucepan until the fat has melted.
• 4.Meanwhile, add both flours to a bowl and rub in the butter.
• 5.While the water and lard are still warm (but not hot) pour the liquid into the flour mixture then knead until smooth.
• 6.Cut off a quarter of the pastry for your pork pie lids.
• 7.Working quickly, roll the rest of the pastry into a large circle to cover the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin. Ensure the pastry is pushed against all sides with no air pockets.
• 8.Spoon the filling into the pastry case. Roll the lid out and place it on top, crimping the edges together.
• 9.Cut a hole in the middle on top that’s big enough for the nose of a small funnel.
• 10.Bake the pie for 30 minutes then reduce the heat to 160C and cook for another 90 minutes.
• 11.Brush the pie with the whisked egg and cook for a further 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
• 12.Soak your gelatine leaves in water for 5 minutes then squeeze out any excess water and dissolve in the hot chicken stock.
• 13.Once the mixture has cooled slightly, very slowly pour into the pie hole using a funnel. Place in the fridge to set overnight.
• 14.For the brown sauce, add all the ingredients to a large saucepan with 1 tsp salt and 150ml water.
• 15.Cover the top with baking parchment and simmer on a low heat for 50 minutes until the fruit has softened.
• 16.Once cooled for 30 minutes, transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a container, seal and store in the fridge.
• 17.To serve, slice up the pork pie and add dollops of your gorgeous homemade brown sauce.