beef and bacon pie
I was a little confused about this recipe because the recipe for the pie pastry says to pre-bake the shell, but the beef and bacon recipe specifically says to roll out the dough and then fill it, without any mention of pre-baking. So I did as the directions said even though I think the pre-baking helped the pork pie sit in the fridge better. I didn't notice any sogginess tonight, but we'll see how it is tomorrow.
The butcher cut my meat a little big, so I used closer to 2 lbs than 1.5 lbs, but I figured that'd be ok. Until I realized that the Corningware pan I planned to use, which is more like a cake pan, is only 8" versus the usual 9" diameter. I just saved the extra filling and will send DH to work with it one day.
But the smaller pan was probably better because the bacon shrank considerably after cooking. At first I was disappointed with my bacon lattice because at 15 minutes, it just looked like a fatty disgusting mess. I left it in for maybe 22 minutes total and it turned out beautifully. The extra pieces I laid beside the lattice were burned to a crisp, but the lattice is what really matters.
One thing I can say about cookbooks is that they really inspire me to try new things. I am enjoying the book so far and the recipes are pretty easy. I've made mostly the modern version of the recipes, but I do have plans to make the medieval versions of other dishes.
I added extra potatoes but it still didn't have enough potatoes for my taste. Next time I will use 2 potatoes instead of one (the recipe called for 1/2 a potato). DH really liked this recipe, but I liked the pork pie recipe better; this one was nice because of the gravy though.