A Feast of Ice and Fire: Modern Pork Pie

Modern Pork Pie

“If I could fly, I’d be back at Castle Black eating a pork pie,” said Sam. – A Clash of Kings

This recipe, from The Wall section of the cookbook, is one of two options.  I chose to do the Modern Pork Pie because the ingredients were more readily available during the COVID-19 grocery panic-buying, and frankly it sounded more appetizing than the medieval version.

There a several steps to this one, and the first is to make the pie crust.  Now you can use any dough recipe you want as long as it makes enough for a double-crust meat pie, but I chose to make their recommended Medieval Pastry Dough that’s included in the cookbook.

For the Medieval Pastry Dough, the saffron is soaked in water while you mix the dry ingredients together and whisk the eggs.  Then it’s all combined to make a dough that sticks together.  Mine was a little crumbly, so I needed extra water to make sure is really did stick together well.

Then half your dough is rolled out and moved to your pie pan.  I usually fold the dough in half and then half again (quarters) for easier transport from counter to pan.

Next, the filling: the onion is browned in a pan and then mixed with pork, Ritz crackers, seasoning, cumin, salt, and pepper.  I needed more than “1 sleeve” of Ritz crackers, like the recipe indicates, but I don’t think we got a normal-sized box.  And I was a little worried about not cooking the pork ahead of time, but turns out it was all okay!

It’s poured into the pie shell, and then brushed with a layer of spicy barbecue sauce…my husband made it a point to find the spiciest sauce he could possibly find.  Then a layer of thin apple slices goes on next (I only needed 1 apple, not two as the recipe calls for) followed by the cheese.

The whole pie is then topped with the rest of the dough (rolled out first, of course) and decorative steam holes are punched into the top with a knife.  I had some leftover dough after adding my top, so I used that to make little leaves like the picture in the cookbook.

Finally it goes into the oven and cooks until golden brown.  I had mine with ketchup, and my husband ate his with extra bbq sauce.

Taste: 9/10

This was delicious, I loved it!  And the meat was in fact cooked all the way through, which was a concern of mine.

Difficulty: Average

The dough for the crust is actually the hardest part, but is not technically a part of this recipe.  The rest is mostly just mixing things together, slicing carefully, etc.  I’d say the most challenging part of the recipe itself is knowing when to pull the pie out.  As usual, mine needed a bit longer in the oven than the recipe stated.

Cost: Average

You’ll need ingredients for whatever dough you’re making, in addition to onion, ground pork, Ritz crackers, poultry seasoning, cumin, spicy barbecue sauce, apples, and cheddar cheese.