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I thought since I'm currently eating this for my lunch I'd post the recipe. This is apparently a traditional English recipe, though I have seen various different versions of it. There is a version in the Porter's English Cookery book that is basically a ham pie with potato, which has many ingredients in common (albeit no apples) but a very different balance. The use of suet pastry rather than shortcrust is not something I've seen in any recipes, but this is how we do it in my family, and I prefer it like this. I have heard that "fidget" is actually a corruption of the old English for "five-cornered", reflecting the original style of the pie. All quantities are approximate. Generally I have plenty of potatoes and onions in stock, so if I run low I just cut some more. These quantities work well in a 10-inch casserole dish to serve a generous four. It can easily be scaled up to feed about as many as you'd care to. Filling: about 10 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4in thick about 5 medium onions, roughly chopped 2 Bramley apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped about 1/2lb bacon, chopped black pepper dry cider Pastry: 8oz plain flour 4oz shredded suet water Place layers of potato, onion, apple, and bacon into a casserole dish, adding a hefty grind of black pepper to each layer, and starting and finishing with a layer of potato. Top up with dry cider to about 1/2in below the top of the filling. I generally use the cheap dry cider that comes in 2 litre plastic bottles, but I always intend to try this with real cider at some point. You can use apple juice instead, but you might need to add salt to counteract the sweetness. Make the pastry - I find it easiest to just use Atora pre-shredded suet, mix it with the dry flour, and then add enough water to go a bit beyond pastry and into a sticky paste. Then I simply spoon the paste onto the top layer of potato and smear the edges of the spoonfuls together with the back of the spoon. This is much easier than trying to roll out a piece of pastry the right size. If you prefer then you can make regular shortcrust pastry and cover the pie with that. The suet pastry gives a nice crunchy/chewy top which contrasts well with the filling, whereas shortcrust pastry tends to just go soggy due to the steam underneath. Poke a hole in the centre with a knife (making sure to go through the underlying layer of potato), and then bake the pie uncovered at about Gas Mark 7 for a couple of hours. It's done when the top looks glossy and brown. This is a wonderful feel-good food in winter, as it's full of carbohydrates but isn't heavy and dry.
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