It has come to something when a game pie is the easy way out. The tennis cake didn’t look horribly difficult- if you had the time to do it slowly and carefully and had some proper instructions then I am sure it would be doable – but fruit cake is my least favourite cake. I mean, it’s still cake, but I didn’t want to put a huge amount of time and effort into making one. I only know what a Charlotte Russe is because of Jacqueline Wilson’s book, The Lottie Project, and I had neither the time nor the freezer space to attempt it this week.
But game pie? Delicious. I love this sort of thing.
So, here’s my… well, I won’t call it a masterpiece. There are lots of things I would do differently if I was making it again. I probably won’t make this exact pie next time because game is so expensive, but I will definitely attempt to make something else using hot water crust pastry in the future.
I was irrationally scared of hot water crust, mostly because it’s such an odd pastry and I’ve never made it before. The recipe I was working from said that you had to shape it as quickly as you could before it dried out and started to crumble. I actually think I went too quickly and rushed it, and the pastry would have been fine if I had taken an extra five minutes to make sure it was more even.
It’s certainly not the prettiest thing in the world, but it did taste great, and considering it was a first attempt with a few new techniques, I am pretty happy with it. I know that Mary and Paul specified that the pie needed to be elaborately decorated, but I am not at all artistic and was also rushing so much with the pastry that I didn’t want to do anything too fancy. So, I just thought… game pie… game… playing cards… playing card symbols… game pie. I know, I know. I will show myself out.
This week, for once, I am simply going to link to the recipe I used rather than writing out my edited version. This is just because I felt so unsure about this challenge that I didn’t feel confident free-styling and putting my own twist on the recipe, and instead followed it to the the letter and the gram. I chose to use rabbit, venison, and pigeon in my pie, along with the pork belly and bacon, purely because it was what I could get my hands on. I would be such a rubbish vegetarian.
So, here is Master Hollywood’s Raised Game Pie. The things we do for this show, eh?
I’m so impressed you used rabbit, venison and pidgeon! Where on earth did you find those? I just managed to get hold of pheasant! 🙂 Yours looks so good though, and it held together wonderfully. In truth, I was daunted by the hot-water crust too, but it was actually a lot easier than I expected, although lard smells gross in water don’t you think?! Alice xx
http://www.woodenwindowsills.co.uk
I just went to the local butcher in the market! Loads of options – I could have had partridge or grouse too if I wanted. Yes, the lard did smell a bit ugh, but worth it in the end! xx
I like your take on the “game” aspect for the decorations! x
Ha, thanks! It was the best I could do… x
Your pie looks absolutely gorgeous! “It has come to something when a game pie is the easy way out”…. definitely my thoughts exactly. As this is my first bake off experience, I had no idea how hard these challenges are going to get… I was just thinking it would be madeiras and biscotti the whole time 🙂
I know, right!? I miss cake week!
This looks soo good! Super impressed, I’m always afraid of that kind of pastry as well but good to know it is do-able! x
What? It looks great to me! I mean that crust and the details on it are superb 🙂
Aw, thank you! I suppose we are always most critical of our own baking.
This is unbelievably gorgeous. Go girl.
THANK YOU 🙂 Very kind.