Yorkshire Christmas Pie with cranberry compote

IN ADVANCE

1. To make the suet pastry, chop the butter into cubes. Mix all the ingredients and knead into a pliable, elastic dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
2. For the filling, cut the veal neck into cubes of approximately 3 x 3 cm. Cut the layer of fat off the duck breast fillet and cut into coarse pieces. Cover the veal neck and the duck fat and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
3. After an hour in the fridge, mince the veal neck and the duck fat using a meat mincer with a 5 mm plate to a coarse mince. Cut the duck and pigeon breast fillets and the goose liver into approx. 1 cm cubes. Peel and chop the shallot, coarsely chop the pistachio nuts and coarsely grate the truffle. Mix all the ingredients for the filling and leave to rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

METHOD

1. Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the convEGGtor and the Stainless Steel Grid, to a temperature of 210°C. Meanwhile, grease a square 20 cm baking tin with butter and dust with flour. Pat out the excess flour.
2. Roll out about two thirds of the suet pastry on a flour-sprinkled worktop into a square approx. 3-4 mm thick that is big enough to line the tin. Using a rolling pin, cover the tin with the pastry and allow plenty of overhang. Cover the bottom and the sides of the pastry with slices of streaky bacon with the edges overlapping and overhanging. Place the filling on top and press firmly so that the filling is compact and evenly spread. Wrap the overhanging slices of bacon over the filling and finish off any exposed filling with streaky bacon too.
3. Roll out the rest of the suet pastry on a flour-sprinkled worktop into a square that is a little bigger than the tin. Beat the egg yolk with a pinch of flour and use it to coat the edge of the pastry in the tin. Using the rolling pin, place the pastry lid over the tin and cut off the pastry about 2 cm wider than the tin. Roll the overhanging pastry edge under the pastry lid and press firmly with the teeth of a fork so that the filling is sealed and airtight.
4. Brush the pastry lid with egg yolk. Using a round cutter (Ø 3-4 cm), cut out a circle from the middle of the pastry lid and insert an aluminium foil chimney. Roll out the pastry trimmings and use them to decorate the pie as you wish. Brush the decoration with beaten egg yolk.
5. Place the tin on the grid and push the Dual Probe Remote Thermometer into the core of the filling. Close the lid of the EGG, set the core temperature to 68-70°C and bake the pie for approx. 50 minutes until this temperature has been reached. Meanwhile, for the cranberry compote, bring the cranberries with the granulated sugar and the water to the boil over a medium flame. Turn the heat down low and allow to simmer for approx. 20 minutes.
6. Remove the pan with the cranberry compote from the heat and allow the compote to cool. Remove the pie from the Big Green EGG and allow to cool to room temperature. Allow the pie to rest for 1 day, covered in the fridge, and store the compote covered in the fridge too.
7. Allow the pie to reach room temperature approx. one hour before serving and the cranberry compote for half an hour.

TIP

One day after baking, you can also fill the pie with jelly if you want an even more classic version of the pie. Make this by heating 100 ml poultry bouillon and 100 ml red port and dissolving 2 soaked sheets of gelatin in it. Fill through the chimney and return the pie to the fridge to allow the jelly to set.