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Leicestershire Pork Pie

A savory pie filled with seasoned pork, encased in a hot water pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Leicestershire Pork Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Season the pork with salt, pepper, sage, and thyme.

  2. Set the seasoned pork aside in a cool place.

Assemble the pie

  1. Prepare hot water pastry using fresh lard if desired.

  2. Line a pie dish with the pastry.

  3. Fill the dish with the seasoned pork.

  4. Cover the dish with more pastry.

  5. Seal the edges.

  6. Decorate the top.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 2 hours.

  2. Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pork + thymetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork
Forms the savoury filling and, as it cooks, gives the pie its meaty body and flavour.
Hot water pastry
Forms the crust that encloses the filling and holds the pie's shape while baking.
Lard (in the method)
Adds fat to the pastry, contributing tenderness and a short, crumbly texture.

The step that matters

Season the pork and keep it cool before filling. Seasoning the meat evenly ensures the filling tastes right throughout. Keeping the pork cool before assembly helps keep the hot water pastry workable and prevents the fat from softening it before baking.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, sage):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Rosemaryfits less well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, sage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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