Cranberry and Turkey Pie

This cranberry and turkey pie is always a show stopper at any size of gathering!

Crisp, hot water crust pastry is layered with sausage meat, turkey and cranberries in this rich raised pork pie.

It's easy to make in advance to serve cold and slices beautifully.

The best bit? You don't need to worry about the pastry being perfect either. You can patchwork it all together!

Bon appétit!

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• How to make hot water crust pastry
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• SUBSTITUTIONS
• 📖 VARIATIONS
• STORAGE
• FAQs
• Top tips
• 📋 Recipe
• Top tips
• Food safety
• 💬 Comments

This is no ordinary turkey pie. It is a cranberry, turkey, minced pork and hot water crust pastry pie, that not only looks beautiful but tastes amazing!

I've been making this pie for many years, normally for summer buffets and picnics, because it looks so pretty when you cut it. It's also full of Christmas flavours, which makes this pie great for the festive season too.

You may be looking at this and thinking that it looks far too complicated. It's not. This recipe is very simple and the pastry is designed to be shaped by hand, so there's no need to worry about patchwork pastry. No one will know!

• Perfect for making in advance a day or two before serving.
• Easy to customise with different fillings.
• Easily makes 10 servings.
• Your guests will love it!

🥘 Ingredients

• Sausage meat - pork sausage meat that is a mixture of lean and fattier cuts. If the sausage meat is already seasoned then leave out the salt and pepper.
• Herbs - dried mixed herbs such as a mixture of thyme, basil, oregano and marjoram.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Shallots - I prefer to use the long banana shallots as they are easier to peel.
• Cranberries - dried cranberries work best as there will be less juice.
• Turkey - turkey breast cut into thin slices or escalopes.
• Flour - plain or all purpose flour.
• Lard - this pork fat is essential for hot water crust pastry to make ir melt in the mouth.
• Milk - Full fat or semi skimmed milk.
• Egg - small, free range egg for glazing the pastry.

See the recipe card for exact quantities.

🍽 Equipment

• Saucepan
• Bowl
• Rolling pin
• Spring form tin 7 ½ inch / 19 cm
• Wooden spoon
• Cling film
• Pastry brush

🔪 Instructions

Put the dried cranberries in a bowl and pour over boiling water to cover. This will help them to plump up, without becoming too juicy.

Leave them for 20 minutes then drain in a sieve and leave on kitchen paper to dry off.

Finely chop the shallots and place in a large bowl with the sausage meat, along with the seasoning and herbs.

Mix well and divide the mixture into two equal portions.

How to make hot water crust pastry

It may sound daunting, but hot water crust pastry is probably the easiest to make as there is no rubbing in of the fat. It is just a case of mixing lard, water, milk, salt and flour.

Make the pastry by combining plain flour and salt in a large bowl.

Then heat the milk, water and lard in a saucepan until it bubbles.

Pour the hot milk mixture onto the flour and beat the mixture together quickly with a wooden spoon.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and very quickly knead into a ball.

Cut off a third of the dough and wrap in clingfilm for the lid.

Roll out the remainder to cover the bottom and sides of the tin. It doesn't matter if the dough falls apart just press together to get an even layer.

💭 TOP TIP

• This pastry is very forgiving, but it is easiest to work with it when it is warm and still moist. Work quickly and patch as you go.

Push half of the sausage meat into the the bottom of the pie.

Follow this by adding a layer of turkey escalope. It doesn't matter if this is several pieces.

Scatter over the cranberries.

Add another layer of turkey and follow with the remaining sausage meat.

Beat the egg.

Roll out the remaining pastry for the lid and use a pastry brush to seal with the beaten egg.

Make a steam hole in the middle and use any pastry scraps to decorate the top.

Add the water to the remaining egg to make a wash then glaze the top of the pie.

⏲️ Baking Time

Cook for 2 hours at 180 C/160 FAN/350 F/Gas Mark 4.

If the pie is becoming too brown place some tin foil over the top.

Leave it in the tin to cool and refrigerate overnight before releasing the pie from the tin and serving.

🥗 Serve with

I like to serve this as part of a buffet on Boxing day along with cold ham, turkey and baked potatoes.

• Fennel and Pear Blue Cheese Salad
• Raw Mushroom Salad with Garlic and Parsley
• Tarragon Mushroom Salad
• Tomato and Feta Salad
• Afternoon Tea Sandwiches
• Chicken Liver Parfait
• Quiche Lorraine

SUBSTITUTIONS

• Turkey - use chicken breast or duck instead.

📖 VARIATIONS

• Cranberries - use dried apricots, sun dried tomatoes,
• Spicy - replace the cranberries with mango chutney or other spicy chutney.

STORAGE

Wrap the leftover pie in foil and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Freeze individual slices for up to a month.

FAQs

Top tips

• To ensure perfect pastry get everything prepared before hand. When the pastry starts to cool it will be difficult to work with.
• If you can't find good sausage meat use good sausages and take them out of their skins instead.
• You can normally buy escalopes precut, but if you can't find them simply cut chicken or turkey breasts into flat slices

This is a great pie for any celebration with crumbly pastry, moist meat and juicy cranberries. I have to say, it never lasts very long!

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📋 Recipe

This recipe was initially published on the 26th December 2015 but has been updated.

Food safety

We sometimes take for a granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove