I have a love/hate relationship with this recipe.  I love it because the final products turned out much better than I hoped.  I hate it because, well, the first tortes/pies went horribly horribly wrong.   Given the venue and the timetable for Coronation, I knew that I needed to prep ahead and one of the items I opted to do ahead – the tortes.   The whole process went exceedingly well until I noticed that the pancetta wasn’t quite right.   The reason for that became very clear quickly – the pancetta was mislabeled and it was HOT.   Pancetta with cayenne, extremely non-medieval and it had to go.  So those pies were scrapped (one was kept to show the group why they were scrapped) and new pies were made.  Those went perfectly.  The recipe itself is incredibly easy given the joys of modern appliances.   Feel free to be a purist if you must but I’ll use my food processor every time.

The pie crust for this pie is very modern – I use the same recipe that my Mum uses.   It’s a variation of the Tenderflake lard recipe and I’ve never had it fail on me.   The trick to remember with pie crust is to keep the mixing to a minimum – mixing develops gluten and gluten is not desirable in pie crusts.  Tenderflake calls for the inclusion of 1 tsp in the dough.   I almost never add it because I find that there tends to be salt in everything else and the pancetta definitely covers the salt for this recipe.

Pie Crust

  • 5 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 lb tenderflake lard
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • water

Using a pastry knife, forks or knives – blend lard into flour until the mixture is the consistency of oat meal.   In a measuring cup, combine egg and vinegar plus water to make 1 cup total liquid – mix well.   Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.   Wrap in saran and let rest 30 minutes.   Makes two double crust pies.

Cheese and Shallot Torte Mixture

  • 1 lb shallots or onions (I used shallots), minced
  • 6 oz. farmers or goat’s cheese
  • 6 oz. pancetta, chopped fine
  • 1 egg
  • 1-2 tbsp of milk
  • 4 threads saffron
  • fresh ground pepper

Combine shallots, cheese, pancetta, saffron, pepper and egg until well blended.  Add milk as needed to thin the mixture (I used about 1 tbsp).   Pour into pre-baked pie crust (10 minute bake) – cook for 50 minutes.

NOTE:  The pie with the cayenne based pancetta was tasty but pulling the pies was the right call as the filling was red smoking hot.   If you like hot and spicy, it’s definitely an option, just not a medieval one.