Squab Pot-Pie

Ingredients

• 3 oz salt pork
• 6 wild squabs
• 4 potatoes
• 12 dough balls
• salt
• white pepper
• 1 dash mace or nutmeg
• hot water
• short pie-crust

Method

Render the salt pork into fat first — dice it into 5 mm cubes and cook gently in a heavy-bottomed pot over low heat until the pieces turn translucent and the fat pools around them. This fat is your braising medium and flavour base. The rendered pork will remain in the dish and contribute salt and depth throughout cooking. While it renders, segment the squabs at the joints (thigh from breast, wings from body) and strip the skin. Game game-birds has darker, denser meat than chicken and benefits from moist heat; the skin only prevents proper contact with the braising liquid. Peel your potatoes and cut them into roughly 15 mm cubes — uniform size matters here so they finish cooking at the same time as the squab.

Layer the ingredients in a deep earthenware or cast-iron dish: rendered pork and fat across the base, then the squab pieces, then potatoes, seasoning each layer with salt, white pepper, and a pinch of mace (nutmeg is softer; mace has sharper complexity and won't muddy the game). Scatter the dough balls — these aren't meant to be individual dumplings but rather thickening agents and comfort textural elements — among the meat and vegetables. Pour hot water to just cover the contents. The liquid should shimmer but not boil; you're building a gentle braising environment where collagen breaks down into gelatin, enriching the pot-liquor whilst the flesh stays tender rather than seizing.

Cover the dish with short crust pastry, sealing it well to the rim. This lid creates steam pressure that raises the cooking temperature slightly and ensures even, moist heat throughout. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. The pastry should turn deep golden and sound crisp when tapped; the dough balls will have softened into the gravy, thickening it naturally through starch release. The squab meat should yield to a fork without falling apart, and the potatoes should have collapsed at the edges but hold their shape in the centre. The pot-pie is cooked through when steam no longer escapes forcefully from beneath the crust. Serve directly from the dish, breaking the pastry lid at table and spooning the rich, glossy broth over each portion.