Pork Pie

This is a British pork pie, which means three things: a hot-water crust, roughly chopped pork belly and shoulder, and jelly set around the meat. The crust should be crisp, the meat should keep its coarse, chopped texture, and the whole thing should be eaten cold. We make the crust from scratch, and the pork is free-range, from Oulton's in Windsor, Nova Scotia.

Serve it chilled. Straight from the fridge, cut into wedges, is how it wants to be.

We do not get many low reviews, so the ones we do get tend to stick. One came from a customer whose pork pie leaked everywhere when they baked it, and we felt for them, and for their oven. The culprit was the jelly. It is only jelly while it stays cold: warm it up and it heads for the nearest exit. That one was on us, because nobody had told them. Now we say it plainly at the counter: our pork pies are to be served chilled.

They are slow to make, and our bakers will tell you so at some length, which is why they tend to go early. If you see one, that is your moment. It sits alongside all our meat pies in Halifax, though this one stays in the fridge.