Pork Pie

Tourte de porc teaches the discipline of layering. Pork and potato share a dish but not a clock, so the slices must be thin enough to finish together beneath the sealed lid. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: cut every potato no thicker than 1/8 inch (3 mm), or the pork will be ready while the center stays stubborn.

The classical kitchen assumed Ordinary or Dry Duxelle (No. 223) waiting as a finished preparation, jambon cru shaved from a whole joint, and puff-paste trimmings left from other work. This home version takes the medium dish to two-thirds for four generous servings, uses deli-thin jambon cru and one cold all-butter pastry sheet, and keeps the Duxelle whole rather than stealing its method from its own entry. Making puff pastry from trimmings is brigade scaffolding here; the ham lining, equal weights of pork and potato, ordered layers, measured water, sealed lid, central slit, and slow bake are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it comes out, the lid is fork-striped and bronze, the juices gleam at the vent, and each cut shows pork, potato, softened onion, sage, and dark mushroom in honest strata. Don't rush the bake because the pastry looks ready. Test through the central slit for a potato that yields without argument; that is the step that decides the tourte.