Egg and bacon pie recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Pork Ham Bacon Sausages, Savoury Pies | 25 comments
Photo: Traditional egg and bacon pie
As a child egg and bacon pie was a traditional picnic dish and I loved it. This is not a quiche. The eggs are unbroken and the texture and flavour of the combination of short crust pastry, floury egg yolks, silky egg whites and thick cut bacon is out of this world.
I had forgotten all about this pie until The Chicken Lady served it when we went the Hampton Court Flower Show two years ago. I could have guzzled the entire pie but politeness made me hold back and only accept two slices. Since then I have dreamt about it, on and off.
Faced with a glut off eggs this week I was determined to make a bacon and egg pie. Danny was intrigued.
“We never ate this dish in Ireland.”
“It’s the sort of thing that you might have found in an Edwardian picnic hamper, served on proper plates with crisp white napkins and lashings of homemade lemonade. It sounds dull – no herbs and just salt and pepper – but it’s delicious. I promise.”
But could I replicate the dream pie? I sniffed about on the internet for inspiration. All the recipes that I found broke the eggs, used quiche dishes or streaky bacon. I wanted to make a deep pie with a lid. Eventually I rang my mum who agreed that a pie with a crust was the right place to go – more substantial and economical.
“As far as I can remember I put the bacon on the top. Back then bacon was cheap.”
I used my enamel pie dish. Having greased it I lined it with pastry, broke in six whole eggs and laid two slices of bacon over these. Then feeling like a latter day Mrs Beaton I added another six eggs, finishing off with two slices of bacon under the crust.
I backed the pie in Andrew (on the bottom rack with the extension collar on) for an hour at 175 degrees and let it chill completely before supper. I served it with a simple coleslaw using a fresh cabbage from the garden.
Danny loved it and normally he doesn’t like shortcrust pastry. This is a huge relief as I’d like to bake this regularly. Perfect comfort food for parties, picnics and lunches.
By the way this pie is very, very filling and cold easily feed six.
Traditional egg and bacon pie
Ingredients:
500g of short crust pastry
12 eggs
4 thick slices of unsmoked back bacon
Salt and ground white pepper
A little butter for greasing the pie dish
Method:
Grease a 9 ½ inch (24cm) pie dish well.
Roll out about two thirds of the pastry on a floured board and line the pie dish including the rim.
Crack six eggs into the pastry lined dish. Sprinkle with a little ground white pepper.
Place two slices of thick cut bacon gently over the eggs.
Crack another six eggs into the pie dish and finish off with the other two slices of bacon and sprinkle with a little more ground white pepper.
Roll out the rest of the pastry to make a lid for the pie. Make two small slits in the top and bake at 175 degrees for about an hour.
Chill before serving.
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I have made this pie yesterday. It was one of the best Sunday breakfasts (or brunches) I have ever had! I used smoked bacon (looked better at my butcher’s) and it was delicious! Thank you for this incredible discovery (I had never heard about the Egg and Bacon Pie before and keep on wondering why it is not one of the most famous British dishes…). I feel I will prepare it hundreds and hundreds of times in the future.
Thank you for the memory jolt. My mother used to make this for us as children.
Chickens are back in lay, so give you three guesses what I’m going to make tomorrow.
Nom Nom Nom 🙂
Hi Christine
When our hens start laying again (they are no so young anymore) I will celebrate with this pie. Yummy!
I haven’t seen this recipe in ages! My mom used to make bacon and egg pie using whole eggs when I was a child in Boise Idaho. It was the perfect picnic food and great on a hot summer day. I’m glad to see other people remember this as well.
Trying this recipe today fingers crossed no enamel dish though…..
I make Egg and bacon pie regularly. It’s so easy. I use ready made pastry (all for an easy life). I line the pastry with Streaky bacon using a chriss/cross pattern, this makes 4 compartments, then I break one egg into each compartment, The bacon helps to keep each egg from spreading too much. Then I just finish off with the pastry lid.
I’ve just made this for tea, and even DD2, who has the smallest appetite (compared to the other 2 at the same age, not just because she’s the youngest!) ate 2 huge slices. We had it with salad and (Shh!) baked beans.
I couldn’t remember where I’d read about the pie, but found Darina Allen (Forgotten Skills of cooking- fab book) agreed with the unbroken eggs. All the other recipes wanted me to whisk them, which I’m sure is very nice, but I particularly wanted the whole eggs. I have made a post war egg pie in the past, which is the same minus the bacon, and that added mint, so I put chopped chives and mint in mine. Parsley would be good too.
I’ll try some of the suggestions for other additions next time- tomato and cheese sound very good, or sausage meat instead of bacon.
Thanks!
Hi this is indeed a comfort food , my dad used to make these for picnics to take with us down to the beach when we lived by the coast , he included mashed potato mixed in between the egg and bacon with plenty of seasoning served cold .
My Mother brought this Egg and Bacon Pie recipe with here to Norway in 1947 and most likely she was given it by her mother.
12 oz Shortcrust pastry
Filling:
6 rashes of bacon cut into small pieces
4 oz grated cheddar cheese
4 tomatoes, skin and slice
4 eggs
salt and pepper
parsley
Spread lined pastrydish with half the bacon, cheese and tomatoes.
Break whole eggs on top, season well and cover with remaining filling.
Cover with remaining pastry, press edges to seal,trim, rough up and flute. Make 2 incisions across center. Brush top with beaten egg yolk or milk.
Bak at 390 F or 200 C for about 45 min. or toll golden brown.
Garnish with parsley. Serve hot or cod.
I put the chopped parsley on top of the tomatoes before breaking the egg on top. Very good…
I also serve a green salad to go with it.
Every Norwegian I serve it to love it.
Hi Annette
Thanks for the recipe – it sounds delicious and I can’t wait to make it.
Have just made a variation on this pie for Sunday brunch (roast dinner later this evening) and for lunches over the next couple of days at work. I made the pastry using half and half butter and lard, and I used ham instead of bacon. So an egg and ham pie, really. And it was absolutely scrumptious. Thank you for telling us about it.
(I’ve had to hide the rest of the pie so that there is some left for work lunches – my husband wants MORE!!!)
Blimey. I’d completely forgotten about this – my Nanna used to make it! I think I’ll have a go next time we have an egg glut.