Browse all Courses
Browse all courses / The Pie Shop
Learn with Gelf Alderson

The Pie Shop

River Cottage chef Tom Morrell teaches you how to make a variety of savoury pastry recipes – including shortcrust, rough puff, hot water crust and suet.

Course overview

In this first lesson Tom will teach you how to perfect pork pie pastry. Get Tom’s tips for working with this pastry, and practise what you’ve learned with the creation of the ultimate River Cottage pork pie.

Meet Gelf Alderson

Gelf Alderson is the Culinary Director at River Cottage having worked alongside Hugh F-W for nearly ten years. Gelf is a dedicated ambassador of the River Cottage commitment to sustainability. He was one of the early pioneers of the farm to fork philosophy and is passionate about using food that is farmed locally, sourced from the River Cottage kitchen garden, or foraged from the surrounding area. Gelf is able to communicate the importance of sustainable eating in a simple, practical and down to earth way. He is both engaging and charismatic and leaves people with a clear understanding and heads full of ideas to implement at home.

Course description

River Cottage's chef Tom Morrell teaches you how to make and cook with pastry on his pie making course.

River Cottage chef Tom Morrell will teach you all the skills necessary to make a variety of savoury pastry recipes – including shortcrust, rough puff, hot water crust and suet. He'll then show you how to make a pork pie, bake sausage rolls, make pastry bases for quiches and tarts and make a classic British suet pastry for steamed or boiled puddings.

By the end of this course you will have gained the practical skills, knowledge and confidence to create homemade pies for any occasion.

You'll learn:
  • which pastry to use for different pies
  • how to make pork pies with hot waster pastry
  • making quick rough puff pastry for sausage rolls and cheese straws
  • blind baking with shortcrust pastry for tart cases
  • savoury and sweet steamed pudding recipes using suet pastry
The course includes:
  • 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Tom Morrell and River Cottage
  • lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
  • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
  • downloadable lesson notes
  • practical pastry and pie making assignments and recipes (with tutor feedback available)
  • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
  • small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas
Independent Cookery Schools Association approved

This course has been approved by the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA), recognising the highest standards of training.

Time to complete the pie making course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 15 hours 5 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 3 hours 5 minutes in total
  • Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
  • Your pastry and pie making recipe assignments: at least 2 hours per lesson
  • Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
You'll need:

Your lesson notes will include the full details of the ingredients you'll need, but you will be making pies and pastry, so you'll need standard kitchen equipment.

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Tom on your pie making.

If you know someone who'd love this course then give it as a gift - just tick "This is a gift" at the checkout.

Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.