Chewtes on Flesshe Day (Meat Pies)

Meat pies with a pork and chicken filling spiced with ginger

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1430

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There are a lot of historical recipes for meat pies like these, and I pulled from a lot of them for this one. The one below from Liber cure cocorum is included here mostly because it’s a poem and I like it. I opted to use other cuts of pork instead of liver, and I baked mine because frying them just didn’t work out, despite my best efforts. The type of pastry is up to you. I used a hot water crust, but the pastry could have varied from very bland ones that you aren’t meant to eat to fancy ones with egg yolks and butter or milk.

The pastry I used was really nice, and the filling was kind of like a Cornish pasty. The ingredients are simple, and the ginger really comes through. They aren’t dry, but I would have liked a bit of gravy to bring everything together.

“Take lyver of porke and kerve hit smalle,
For a pye be hewn hit schalle,
And hennes therwith do all in a panne,
And frye hit wele as thou wele kanne;
Make a cofyne as for a smalle pye,
And that therein; and yolks therby
Of harde eggs boiled, and also thou take
Powder of gynger and salt to bake;
Kerve hit and fry hit in greece ful gode,
Wele pynched served on last by tho rode
Here endes oure cookery, that I of spake,
Of potage, hasteletes, and mete I bake
And sawce ther to, with oute lying,
Cryst must our sowles to hevene bryng.”

— Liber cure cocorum, 1430

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Ingredients:

Filling

• 1 pound (450 g) pork, any cut you like
• 1/2 pound (225 g) chicken, any cut you like
• 5 hard boiled egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Dough

• 3 cups (400 g) flour
• 1/2 cup (113 g) butter
• 2/3 cup (150 g) lard
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) boiling water
• 1 egg beaten with a bit of water, for an egg wash

Instructions:

1. For the filling: Cut the pork and chicken into small pieces, about 1/2 to 1 inch. Smaller pieces will be easier to put into your pies.
2. Heat a bit of oil in a pan and fry the meat, about 4 to 5 minutes depending on the size of the pieces. You want it to be cooked all the way through.
3. Put the cooked meat into a bowl. Mash the egg yolks and add them to the meat. Stir to combine. Mix in the ginger and salt.
4. For the dough: Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Put the lard and butter in the well, then pour the boiling water over it. Use a fork to work the fat and flour together. If it’s too dry to form a dough, add a bit more water.
5. When the dough has come together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Use your fingers or the heel of your palm to kind of knead and smear the fat in through the dough until it’s well incorporated. Let the dough rest in the fridge or on the counter until it cools to room temperature.
6. To assemble the pies: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment.
7. After the dough has cooled, divide it into 12 pieces. You can do fewer pieces for large pies if you want. Roll the dough into rounds. You can use a bowl or something round as a guide to trim the dough into circles like I did, or leave the edges rough.
8. Set a small amount of the filling in the center of the dough, then fold it over into a half circle and crimp the edges. You want enough filling to fill the pies nicely, but not so much that the dough tears when you try to close them.
9. To cook the pies, you can fry them. I tried many, many times with different doughs and different fats at different temperatures, but it just didn’t work out for me. So I decided to bake them, which is still period appropriate. To bake the pies, arrange them on the prepared baking sheet and brush them with the egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. Let them cool, then serve them forth.

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