Dice all the meat, I used a braised ham hock so that I shredded with my hands, then chop herbs if using and combine all in a large bowl.

Add a generous amount of seasoning and with your hands mix thoroughly, if you are not sure about the seasoning levels, cook a small amount of the mixture and let it cool before tasting.

Combine the lard and water in a pan and bring to a simmer, make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the melted water and fat mixture. Then stir to a dough with a spoon.

Work the mixture with your hands into a smooth dough and cover with cling film to prevent it drying out, grease 5 Dario moulds with butter or lard and divide the dough into 5 even pieces (I originally planned to make 4 but there was enough pastry and filling for 5)

Cut 1/4 of each piece of dough and reserve for the pie lid, form the rest into a ball and roll out to around 1/2 cm. Then work into the greased Dario mould and with your fingers raise the pastry so that it protrudes the lip of the mould by about 1/2 cm

Divide the meat filling evenly between the 5 moulds, roll out the pie lid to 1/2cm, brush the rim of the pastry with water to help the pastry lid stick.

Sit the pie lid onto the pie and gently press the 2 pastries together and press them to a thickness of 1/2 cm. There should be too much pastry now so with a knife or kitchen scissors give a trim but leave a lip of 1/2 cm. Now crimp forefinger of one and and tomb and forefinger of the other work your way around the rim, this aids presentation but also make sure the pastry with stay in place

Make a hole for steam to escape while baking, I insert a small knife and twist through 90 degrees. Then brush with egg wash thoroughly, I do them all once and then repeat.

Bake at 180c for 90 minutes, use a knife to create another smaller hole and if needed re-open the hole you made prior to baking. This helps to fill in the jelly. I made this heavily reduced chicken stock but you can buy a good quality one and reduce it to about 1/5 this should make it jellify'd. take your time to pour in the stock

These pies eat best either cold from the fridge or room temperature, in the second image I'm demonstrating how much I like pickle with mine, these images are taken from my youtube channel, feel free to see me there.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tALwiPOvBEk