Post-Christmas Pie

Post-Christmas Pie Recipe

Got your family coming round for New Year’s Day and still got leftovers to use up? Then try our post-Christmas pie recipe from the Men's Pie Manual...

Ingredients

For the filling

Around 500g leftover turkey meat shredded
500g mixed game birds (pheasant breasts, pigeon breasts are available from good butchers during the winter months, duck is also readily available in supermarkets)
teaspoon each of the following spices, ground: mace, cinnamon, allspice berries, grated nutmeg, cloves (actually Idon’t like cloves, so I tend to leave them out)
300g of sausage meat
200ml of turkey stock made with the wings and carcass 

For the pastry

It’s hot-water crust, fellas, and lots of it.

320ml boiling water
600g plain flour
600g strong flour
450g lard
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

Making the pastry

1 Sieve the flour into a big glass or ceramic bowl and add the sugar and salt. Have a butter knife standing by.
2 Melt the lard in a saucepan on a low heat – you don’t want to overheat it, just render it back into a liquid. If you start to see tiny bubbles, stop, and let it cool down. Carefully pour the boiled water from the kettle into the lard and gently stir.
3 Quickly pour this into the bowl containing the flour. Use your knife to mix the dough together, as it’ll be way too hot to do it with your hands. 
4 When it’s cooled to a warm, squidgy texture get your hands in there and begin to work it hard. Don’t worry, it can take a bit of a knockabout.
5 Transfer to your bench and kneed for five minutes.
6 Roll out with a rolling pin and remove a quarter for your lid.
7 Gently place the remainder in the pie tin and push to ensure a snug fit.
8 Trim off the excess.
9 Place on your lid and crimp to ensure a good seal.

Next let's take a look at a 'traditional' game bird pie...
Make a good standing crust, let the wall and bottom be very thick; bone a turkey, a goose, a fowl, a partridge, and a pigeon, season them all very well, take half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmegs, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, and half an ounce of black-pepper, all beat fine together, two large spoonfuls of salt, and then mix them together.

Open the fowls all down the back, and bone them; first the pigeon, then the partridge; cover them;  then the fowl, then the goose, and then the turkey, which must be large; season them all well first, and lay them in the crust, so as it will look only like a whole turkey; then have a hare ready cased, and wiped with a clean cloth. Cut it to pieces, that is, joint it; season it, and lay it as close as you can on one side; on the other side woodcocks, moor game, and what sort of wild fowl you can get.

Season them well, and lay them close; put at least four pounds of butter into the pie, then lay on your lid, which must be a very thick one, and let it be well baked. It must have a very hot oven, and will take at least four hours. This crust will take a bushel of flour.’Now, that requires so many animals you’ll probably get a visit from the RSPB – there’s over eight different species in that. It isn’t so much a pie as a pastry tomb for winter birds.

Then there’s the pastry – a bushel of flour is around 36kg. What must it have been like to not only afford one, but to present it to your friends, neighbours and household? How did they even cut it? They must have used a sword. Anyway, let’s make a more sensible version, as some of the flavourings are excellent.

Now it’s time to talk turkey... 
We forget that turkey, too, is a game bird. Buying a good rare-breed naturally raised turkey is critical. It’ll have the flavour, the texture and the fat covering. Also, you don’t have to bone out a whole one (that would take ages). Instead think of this as a deluxe version of a turkey pie. You want to break out your biggest deep-sided, spring-loaded cake tin for this. I’m serious, this is the big one.

Method

1 Strip the meat from the turkey and make the stock from the carcass.

2 When the stock is ready, pass through a sieve to remove the bones and vegetables and pour about 200ml into a clean pan. Put the rest in the freezer for something else.

3 Poach the game meat in this stock for about 15 minutes until tender and cooked (this will help keep them moist).

4 Remove and leave to cool. Keep the stock.

5 Make your pastry (see above) and, working quickly, roll out and line your cake tin, saving enough to make the lid. Make sure it’s well into the corners.

6 Then, in a bowl, mix the sausage meat with the cooked turkey and game meat and the spices. If it looks a little dry, add a spoon or two of the stock.

7 Fill the case with the filling and brush the edge with water.

8 Roll out your lid and place it on top. Cut a small hole for the steam to escape and bake in a moderate oven (160°C) for an hour. Check the filling is cooked with a meat thermometer and leave to cool completely before cutting into big wedges.

Haynes

Seven Top Ski Destinations

The Haynes Seven Top Skiing Destinations

With many peoples next holiday a Ski holiday and to celebrate the publication of the Haynes Skiing Manual, Author and Skiing Expert Bill Mattos has put together the top Seven skiing destinations.

Best for just skiing – Banff, Canada

Near (driving distance) Banff village are the three ski areas of Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise. All are awesome and surprisingly uncrowded most days. Featuring huge skiing, huge powder, huge backcountry and bowls, or bimble gently on wide, intermediate groomers. It's all there. http://www.skibanff.com/sunshine-village/

Best for variety –  Zermatt, Switzerland

With skiable slopes up to nearly 4000m and two separate countries (Switzerland and Italy – so you’ll need your passport), Zermatt is widely regarded as one of the best resorts in Europe. http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/resorts/Zermatt/

Best for powder –Niseko, Japan

For a balance of some of the world's best and most consistent powder (over 15m per year) and an all-round decent score on everything else you’d want from a ski holiday. Unless you live on Hokkaido, Japan, it's not the easiest to get to but it is worth it... http://www.niseko-village.com/en/

Best for indoor Skiing – Ski Dubai, UAE

The city of Dubai may be a lush oasis in the middle of arid desert, but snowy is definitely one of the things it isn't. Ski Dubai is the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East and offers authentic snow, chair lifts and an Alpine style lodge. Five runs vary in difficulty, height and gradient, just like an outdoor resort. The longest run is 400m with a drop of around 60m. The ski resort is also the home of twenty penguins, and some would say that's reason enough to go there! http://www.skidubai.com

Best for bragging rights – Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France

Probably the world's most famous ski resort and located at the foot of Mont-Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps and the second highest in Europe! Chamonix-Mont-Blanc has a colossal vertical height of nearly 10,000' (3000m) and some of the world's longest runs, like the Vallée Blanche at 13.7 miles (8.5km). While the town is somewhat hectic, the outlying resorts like Argentieres and Les Houches are quieter places to be, but you can still access the Cham ski area. http://www.chamonix.net

Best for high flyers – Aspen, United States

Ski with the rich and famous! It's shiny and expensive, but it's filled with steeps and bumps, and has many groomed intermediate runs as well. With huge areas of backcountry/off-piste skiing. Alternatively, for hob-nobbing with the toffs a bit closer to home, try Klosters in Europe. http://www.aspensnowmass.com

Best for out of season – the rest of the world

In the northern hemisphere we often forget that the other half have snow when we do not. Australia and New Zealand beckon to those who crave spoken English, but for low cost and incredible scope try South America – Chilean resort Valle Nevado, just over an hour's car journey from Santiago, delivers reliable snow and a big selection of groomed and off-piste areas. http://www.vallenevado.com/en/

The danger of internet research and statistics.

Powder does not fall from blue skies. If you are looking for constant pow, you must resign yourself to many lo-vis days, which stands to reason. Equally there is no point in trawling the internet for the maximum snowfall resort, if all that snow falls in big dumps with weeks of freeze/thaw in between.

Things people don't normally think about

I've always thought people have some odd criteria when choosing where to go on a skiing trip. It's best to write a list of what's important to you – like how many runs there are, that truly suit my skiing ability/style, for instance.

High altitude is not always best. While it does guarantee more snow and a longer season because the snow never thaws up there, it can also mean ice, cold and high winds and a generally unpleasant time. Low altitude, conversely, runs the risk of rain instead of snow, and on otherwise fine days the snow can be slushy, making it hard work no matter what your skiing ability. If you have to book a trip in advance, hedge for the resorts that have a lot of runs in the middle altitudes of 2000-3000m.

In these days of modern, well managed resorts and manufactured snow, it is unlikely that you'll find yourself without any snow. What is worth considering is how you want to get around. Some resorts have everything in walking distance from the village, including the ski lifts (or even ski in/ski out for some exclusive accommodation), but some require a lot of travel by bus or car. My number one question about a resort would be, how long will it take me each day to get to/from a lift that can access the top?

Whatever you do and wherever you go… remember to have fun but be safe! There is a massive range of safety equipment on the market and it is all there to keep you safe when skiing! Year after year accidents happen on the slope that could be avoided if the proper precautions were taken to start with and proper equipment used. Skiing is one of the most enjoyable sports in the world when done safely.

You can find out everything you want to know about the sport in the Haynes Skiing Manual, out now and available at www.haynes.co.uk or all good book shops.

Haynes

How to transport a Christmas tree safely

There’s nothing weedy about the Christmas tree in this post; eight foot tall and half as wide. It’ll impress the neighbours for certain. And it’s a bargain. There’s only one problem - how to get it home.

Christmas is the time of year for long or bulky loads. It’s not just Santa’s sleigh that gets loaded up. The first thing to do is think ahead. If you expect to purchase something too large to go completely inside your vehicle, think about what you’ll need.

A roof rack? A large plastic sheet or a tarpaulin? Some tie-downs, elastic cords or lengths of rope? A red flag, even.

Here are some tips for carrying large loads like a Christmas tree.

1. Consider having the item delivered instead, or think about hiring a van or pick-up.

2. If you use a roof rack, make sure it is fitted securely. Check your vehicle’s handbook or your Haynes manual for the maximum roof rack load. Some vehicles have roof rails to which a rack can be fitted.

3. Lay plastic or a tarpaulin across the roof rack before you load it, then wrap this around the tree and secure it with tie-downs, rope or elastic cords.

4. Load the roof rack with the largest items at the rear.

5. Some top boxes are shaped to carry skis, other sports equipment and small items but not very useful for transporting a tree.

7. If you don’t have a roof rack, a tree may go in through the tailgate or boot. If you can, fold down the rear seats and recline the front passenger seat. Make sure the load cannot interfere with the driving controls.

8. If you cannot shut the boot-lid or tailgate, secure your tree with rope or a tie-down - use bits of rag to prevent these scratching the paintwork. Anything extending more than 0.3 metres (about one foot) beyond the rear bumper should have a prominent red flag attached to it.

9. Make sure the number plate and rear lights are still visible if you have the boot-lid or tailgate partially open. Be aware that exhaust fumes may be sucked into the car as you drive.

10. That Christmas tree may go inside your car with the top poking out through the open sunroof. Or it may go in through a rear side window and rest on the seat. Don’t let it poke out of the side windows - this could be dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists. Also, make sure it is prevented from landing on your lap when you drive around corners! You can probably secure it with a seat belt.

Haynes