Pork & Potato Picnic Pies

The kids and I have recently started watching reruns of The Great British Bake Off.  Any time we start watching a cooking show, it inevitably means I will be making something from said show because I get intrigued about it.

But this time it was Dude!

We were watching a pie episode and contestants were tasked with making picnic pies (which I’d never heard of) and Dude decided they looked pretty tasty and asked me to make them.  You guys - this rarely happens.  When Spud was little, he’d occasionally see something and ask me to make it, but almost never Dude (now 16), so I was excited to make something new that he wanted.

In the episode, there were many varieties of picnic pie, so I asked him which one he liked which resulted in a very teenagery, “I dunno, I think there was one with meat and potatoes and maybe some cheese.”

Alright, I could work with that.

So I started researching picnic pies and found that traditionally, picnic pies can be full sized or mini and typically the filling is just pork.  Then after cooking, the pork hocks are boiled to make gelatin which is poured into the pie to fill in any air pockets, presumably to preserve the pie if there is a lack of refrigeration.

I did not think a pork and gelatin pie would go over very well in my house, so I went back to the show and that the contestants were invited to be creative with their fillings.

I decided to use pork (since it’s traditional), plus scalloped potatoes (cheesy potatoes) to satisfy Dude’s request.

The resulting pies were totally delicious and enjoyed by all - it was a super fun cooking challenge!

Recipe Note:

-I made twice as much sausage, potatoes, and cheese sauce as I needed for this recipe and ended up making a side dish of scalloped potatoes…amounts below reflect how much one should need for the recipe, but feel free to double and have some leftover scalloped potatoes!

Pork & Potato Picnic Pies

Pork Sausage

Adapted from Real.Simple.Good

½ pound ground pork

¾ teaspoon ground sage

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried garlic

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Hot Water Pastry

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

1 cup water

8 tablespoons (½ cup) butter

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

Potatoes

¾ pound potatoes

1 tablespoon butter

½ a small onion, diced (about ¼ cup)

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Salt & pepper, to taste

¾ cup milk

¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Egg wash

1 egg

1 teaspoon water

Boil the potatoes in a pot of water until fork tender, set aside to cool slightly, then dice.

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce.  Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until tender, about 3 minutes.

Whisk in the flour, salt, and pepper and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in the milk, allowing the mixture to thicken.  Stir in cheese until melted.  Pour over the potatoes and stir to mix.  Set aside.

To make the pork sausage, mix the spices into the ground pork.  Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add the pork and cook until browned, breaking into crumbles as it cooks.  Once cooked, remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

To make the hot water pastry, have all ingredients ready to be assembled first.  Place the water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, place the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Pour the water and butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine.  Cut off ⅓ of the dough and place under an inverted bowl to keep warm.

Quickly roll the remaining ⅔ into a large circle, slightly thicker than a normal pie dough.  Use a 4-inch cookie cutter to cut dough circles.  Use the dough circles to line the wells of a 12-cup muffin tin. Divide the scalloped potato and pork mixtures evenly between the lined muffin wells.

Roll the remaining dough into a circle and use a 3-inch cookie cutter to cut tops for the mini pies.  Place over each pie and crimp with a fork.

Whisk together the egg and water and brush over each pie.  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing.  Serve hot or at room temperature.