Making your own pastry works out cheaper than shop-bought, but if you don't have a food processor, you may find it easier to buy a couple of blocks of ready-made shortcrust pastry.
Put the gammon into a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, then cover and simmer gently for 1½hr.
Step 2
Meanwhile, make the pastry. Put the flour and butter into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. In a small bowl, stir together the egg yolks and 75ml (3fl oz) ice-cold water. Add the liquid to the food processor and pulse until the mixture just comes together. Tip dough on to a work surface, bring together with your hands and shape into a flat disc. Wrap in clingfilm and chill until needed (if you don't have a food processor, rub the butter into the flour using your fingers, then mix in the yolks/water with a blunt-ended cutlery knife. Bring dough together into a flat disc and chill).
Step 3
Once the gammon is cooked, reserve a cupful of the cooking water and drain the rest away. Put the gammon on to a board and leave to cool.
Step 4
Shred the gammon using two forks or your fingers (discarding any skin and fat). Tip the meat into a bowl and stir through the parsley and enough of the cooking water (about 50-75ml or 2-3fl oz) to add a little juiciness. Set aside.
Step 5
Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan) mark 7. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out two-thirds of the pastry until it's 3mm (⅛in) thick. Stamp out 12 x 10cm (4in) circles and press them into the 12 holes of a deep muffin tin, working the pastry so that it comes just above the edges of the holes. Set the trimmings aside. Divide the gammon mixture among the pastry cases, pressing down gently to pack the meat in. Spoon the piccalilli over the meat in an even layer.
Step 6
Roll out remaining pastry and trimmings as before and stamp out 12 x 7cm (2¾in) circles (keep trimmings). Lightly beat the remaining egg. Brush the edges of the filled pies with some of the beaten egg, then press on the lids, sealing edges firmly. If you like, reroll any trimmings and stamp out letters or shapes and use to decorate pies. Brush top of pies with egg.
Step 7
Cook the pies for 30-35min, or until deep golden brown. Cool for 5min in tin, then carefully run the tip of a knife around the edge to loosen and remove the pies from the tin. Cool for 10min, then serve warm or at room temperature.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
