Hot water crust pastry
1½ pounds plain flour
2 level teaspoons salt
½ pound lard
½ pint water

Filling
¾ pound breast of veal
¾ pound gammon
¾ pound cooked tongue
½ Spanish onion, finely chopped
Thyme
Marjoram
Chopped fresh tarragon
Chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 hard-boiled eggs

Garnish
Beaten egg
Aspic jelly

Hot water crust pastry: Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Melt the lard and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add to the dry ingredients and mix quickly to a soft, pliable dough. Line a rectangular pie mould with two-thirds of the dough, pressing it well down into the corners.

Filling: Cut the veal, gammon and cooked tongue into cubes, and mix with finely chopped Spanish onion and generous amounts of thyme, marjoram and chopped fresh tarragon and parsley. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Half-fill the mould with the meat and herb mixture; arrange hard-boiled eggs on top and then fill mould with the remaining meat and herb mixture.

Roll out remaining pastry and cover the top of the pie, pressing edges well together. Trim edges and decorate with “leaves” cut from pastry trimmings. Brush with beaten egg; make three small holes in the pastry lid for the steam to escape, and bake in a fairly hot oven (425° – M6) for ½ hour. Then reduce heat to 375° – M4 and cooked for a further 1¼ hours. (If top becomes too brown, cover with a sheet of aluminium foil.) Allow pie to become quite cold. Remove rectangular pie mould and pour liquid aspic jelly (cool) through the holes in the pastry with the aid of a paper funnel. Leave pie overnight before cutting.

Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 36 Park Street, London W.1. ©Robert Carrier 1968