Tudor Wild Pig Sausage

Fruit and spice filled sausage fit for royalty, and a raised-pie!

A few years ago we hosted an incredible “Outlander” party in a good friend’s outdoor barn, complete with gigantic hearth and old-timey bar! Costumes were absolutely mandatory, and the nod to our Celtic relatives was something really special. I get a little emotional thinking about the effort that everyone went to to make this little fantasy come true. I stepped out at one point and looked into the candlelit barn at our friends, in costume, dancing gayly to live harp and flute around a food-filled banquet table. It could have been centuries ago.

Alongside their invites, I provided guests with a century-appropriate recipe from some of my ancient cookbooks for them to bring to share. And boy did we feast! Raised pies were a hit and I’ve been meaning to make one ever since, and nothing says festive decadence like a Hand-Raised Game Pie in a hot-water lard crust.

The sausage meat was seriously good, heavy on the mace with a little orange to bring some yuletide cheer into this pie. I had to get creative with the crust as I didn’t have an appropriate pan to cook the pie in. I used foil to raise the sides of my pan, but the foil actually prevented the heat of the oven from cooking the sides of the pastry, which as you can imagine, was very problematic when it came to popping the 4lb meat surprise out of the springform cake pan. There was blow-out and a lot of screaming, a large quantity of hot, liquid fat and smoke, along with a very soggy bottom. It wasn’t pretty but I have learnt my lesson and have since purchased a small springform cake pan with tall sides to both support and cook the pie in my next go at this!

I’m going to include the very delicious Tudor sausage meat recipe which you may do with it what you please, perhaps sausage rolls? Or if you dare, a raised pie?

I’ll also include the recipe for the pastry which, despite my disaster, was utterly delicious and I can only imagine what this recipe could be if it got into the right hands! I haven’t given up, and you will see a perfect raised pie on here in the near future.