Few foods capture the heritage of British baking as proudly as the classic stand pork pie. With its firm hot-water crust, well-seasoned pork filling, and signature jelly that sets perfectly within its walls, this traditional pie is both a craft and a cultural icon.

Often enjoyed cold, sliced thick, and served with pickles or mustard, the stand pork pie has long been a centerpiece of English picnics, pub counters, and holiday spreads. In this article, we explore the history behind this beloved staple, the techniques that give it its unmistakable character, and why the stand pork pie remains a celebrated symbol of proper English grub.

The recipe to make a stand pork pie is basically the same as a traditional pork pie but there are some extra steps and precautions to take which are listed below.

Follow the link for the stand pork pie ingredients

To make a stand pork pie you will need to use a tin or a form, don't even think about trying to make a hand rasied stand pork pie, it will be a diaster!.

The next thing to consider is what size pie you want to make, probably the smallest stand pork pie you would consider making would be about 6 x 3 inch, that is 6 inch diameter and 3 inch height. This is the size of the pie in the picture above, although it might not sound big it's actually about 3.5 lb. and quite substantial, so unless you are going to have a lot of people helping you eat it think carefully before making anything bigger!

The ingredients list for the traditional pork pie recipe will make a 6 x 3 inch stand pie, with maybe enough left over to make 1 or 2 small pies.

The tin I used is shown below, I'd recommend one with a removable bottom. This one is from Fat Daddio's brand, bought off Amazon for about $20, very good I would recommend it.

If you read the notes for making the traditional small pork pies you will get the general idea of what to do. The main difference is that the big pie will take a lot longer to fully cook. The small pies usually take about 45-60 minutes whereas the 6 x 3 stand pie will take closer to 2 hours.

This is how I baked the 6 x 3 inch pie:

• Oven at 350 F baked for 1 hour 15 minutes, the top was nicely getting brown but the internal temperature was only about 120 F (looking for over 160 F). I did not want to burn the top so I covered the top with some tin foil.
• Baked for another 15 minutes at 350 F, internal temperature was now 140 F
• Reduced oven to 325 F, removed pie from tin (was easy because of the removeable bottom), egg washed the sides of the pie and the top (again), placed foil back on top and baked for another 30 minutes
• Internal temperature was now over 160 F, removed pie from oven and gave a final quick light egg wash while the pie was still very hot

I was very happy with the final result given that this was the 1st time I've made a stand pie.

After cooling for about 5 hours I injected the jelly using a thin steel syringe (the best way, cost $8 off Amazon), the pie took about 8 oz. of jelly.

I don't normally decorate the top of individual pies but I think for a stand pie it is called for. Here your creative ideas can run wild, I usually just make leaves!. Just brush the top of the pie with water and stick them one, this is of course before you do the egg wash.

If you have any filing left you can also just make small round patties and fry them up for breakfast, left over dough and be wrapped in film and stored in the freezer, works fine.