New England Pork Pies

SERVES Serves 6

TIME 1½ hours, plus 30 minutes chilling and 30 minutes cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

The hallmark of these individual pies is their juicy, soft, and extra-savory pork filling. To achieve this, we combined ground pork with finely ground Ritz Crackers, which incorporated evenly, bound the pork together, held in moisture to keep it juicy, and added a good deal of fat to give it an ultratender—not bouncy—texture. A mixture of melted butter, sour cream, and an egg pulsed into flour yielded a smooth, pliable dough that baked up into a rich, crumbly-yet-sturdy crust. To ensure that the crust baked evenly, we divided some of the dough into six ⅓-cup portions (enough to line six ceramic ramekins) and then rolled each portion into a round before fitting the rounds into the ramekins. For the pie tops, we rolled out the remaining dough, stamped out circles with an inverted ramekin, and sealed the pies by rolling the edges up into a rope-like border. We made a quick gravy by thickening our favorite beef broth with a bit of cornstarch; once the pies were baked to golden brown, we poured the gravy in through the vent holes. The hallmark of these individual pies is their juicy, soft, and extra-savory pork filling. To achieve this, we combined ground pork with finely ground Ritz Crackers, which incorporated evenly, bound the pork together, held in moisture to keep it juicy, and added a good deal of fat to give it an ultratender-not bouncy-texture. A mixture of melted butter, sour cream, and an egg pulsed into flour yielded a smooth, pliable dough that baked up into a rich, crumbly-yet-sturdy crust. To ensure that the crust baked evenly, we divided some of the dough into six ⅓-cup portions (enough to line six ceramic ramekins) and then rolled each portion into a round before fitting the rounds into the ramekins. For the pie tops, we rolled out the remaining dough, stamped out circles with an inverted ramekin, and sealed the pies by rolling the edges up into a rope-like border. We made a quick gravy by thickening our favorite beef broth with a bit of cornstarch; once the pies were baked to golden brown, we poured the gravy in through the vent holes.

INGREDIENTS

subheading: Dough:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

½ cup sour cream

1 large egg, plus 1 lightly beaten large egg for brushing

3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

subheading: Filling:

22 Ritz Crackers

1 ½ pounds ground pork

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

1 ¼ teaspoons pepper

subheading: Gravy:

1 ½ cups beef broth

1 tablespoon cornstarch

note: BEFORE YOU BEGIN

You will need six 6- to 7-ounce ramekins, measuring 3 ½ inches wide and about 2 inches deep, for this recipe.

Directions at cookscountry.com

Never lose a recipe again, not even if the original website goes away! Use the Copy Me That button to create your own complete copy of any recipe that you find online. Learn more! It's free!

Page footer