Miniature project: pork pies

This fantastic pork pie project from Making Miniature Food and Market Stalls by Angie Scarr (published by GMC) offers more complex variations on caning techniques and develops further the methods for combining clay mixes. This tricky little tutorial shows you how to make both basic and gala pork pies that are the perfect addition to your picnic basket!

For even more foodie projects, be sure to get your copy of the book from the online shop, and perfect the craft of creating fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cheeses, bread, and pastries in marvellous detail!

DIY miniature pork pies

By Angie Scarr

Basic pork pie

You will need

• Sugarcraft rolling pin or bottle
• Single-sided blade
• Different-sized circular cutters
• Cake-icing nozzles with round-holed ends
• Dental tool number 5 or cocktail stick
• Curve-ended tool
• Talcum powder
• Polymer clay – roughly combined basic pink meat mix, foundation colour mix 1, basic pastry mix, translucent
• Clear-coloured glaze

Method

1. Roughly combine pork pie mix from equal proportions of pink meat mix and foundation colour mix. Roll it out to a thickness of about 1⁄2in (1.25cm).

2. Cut out a circle of clay and release from the cutter.

3. Add a layer of translucent clay to simulate the jelly around the meat in the centre of the pork pie.

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4. With the same-sized cutter, cut two circles of thinly rolled pastry.

5. From the same rolled sheet of clay, cut a strip the width of your cylinder.

6. Wrap the pastry around the outside of the cylinder like a pie crust, and cut and join together carefully.

7. Nip the edges of the pie crust all the way round at the top and bottom to help join the sections.

8. Using a curve-ended tool, indent just inside the edge all the way round.

9. Make a hole in the centre of your pie using the end of a cake icing nozzle.

10. Using a dental tool, mark the edge of the pie.

11. Cut out a section from the pork pie or even in half to reveal the centre of the pie.

12. Paint the top and sides of the pie using a clear-coloured glaze.

    

 

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Gala pork pies

You will need

• Single-sided blade
• Circular cutter
• Dental tool number 5
• Paintbrush
• Polymer clay – roughly combined pink meat mix, pastry mix, foundation colour mix 1, translucent and yellow

Method

1. Gala pork pies have an egg in the middle. To make the egg, form a narrow cylinder of yellow clay and wrap in a sheet of white.

2. Make sure the white joins reasonably neatly otherwise your egg will be a slightly strange shape.

3. Make a square of the pink meat mix and, using a cutter, cut out a circle from the middle of it.

4. Insert the egg cane through the hole in the middle of the meat square.

5. Squeeze the sides of the square to enclose the space between the meat mix and the egg and to form a cuboid (a lengthened cube).

6. Cut off any excess cane.

7. Pressing gently, add a little translucent to the top of the pink meat mix to simulate the pork pie jelly.

8. Wrap with a further very thin layer of translucent.

9. Add a layer of clay pastry mix, doubling the thickness for the top crust of the gala pork pie.

10. Use opposite fingers and thumbs to ‘persuade’ the pork pie into shape.

11. Lengthen the cane further until it reaches the scale you require. For 1:12 scale, this should measure approximately 1⁄2in (1.25cm) from top to bottom.

12. Cut the cane through the middle to reveal the face of the pie. Cut into 1in (2.5cm) lengths.

13. Cut a square of pastry mix to enclose one end of the pork pie.

14. Draw a curve-ended tool around the top inner edge of the pork pie to form an indentation.

15. Mark the edges of the pie with the dental tool using the same technique as with the classic pork pie (see page 33). Remember not to mark the front which is the cut edge.

16. Cut a couple of slices of pie.

17. After hardening in the oven, glaze the top, sides and back, not forgetting the edges of the slices.

18. Display the slices in front of your pie to show off the inside.

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If you've got through those steps, you'll have a fantastic set of miniature pork pies to proudly display. For more projects from Angie Scarr's book, just click here and you can find it with 10% from GMC! Or for more miniature foodie projects, check out the blog where you can learn how to make miniature bagels using polymer clay and more!