The British chicken and ham raised pie
United Kingdom · Chicken and ham pie (raised pie)
A chicken and ham raised pie is a British cold-eaten pie of layered chicken and ham set in savory jelly inside a freestanding hot water crust. Part of the raised pie family that includes pork pies and game pies, it is traditionally a buffet, picnic, and festive dish, sliced to show its mosaic of pink and white meat.
By the chickenpie.net test kitchen · Published 3 August 2026
Where it comes from
Raised pies belong to one of the oldest documented strands of English cooking. Medieval kitchens baked meat in sturdy standing crusts, which originally served partly as containers, and by the early modern period the freestanding pie was an established showpiece. Whether those earliest crusts were routinely eaten is debated among food historians.
The chicken and ham combination became a recognizable pie in its own right by the Victorian era, when cold raised pies were fixtures of sideboards, railway refreshment rooms, picnics, and shooting lunches. Cookery writers of the period, including Mrs Beeton, give recipes for chicken or fowl pies of this cold, jellied type. The pairing of mild poultry with cured ham, set in clear jelly, suited slicing and keeping in the days before refrigeration.
The tradition survives in British butchers, farm shops, and pork pie makers, and the related gala pie, with egg running through the middle, remains a bakery staple. Chicken and ham pie also exists in a separate hot, sauced, shortcrust form; the raised, cold version is the older showpiece style.
How it is traditionally made
The crust is hot water pastry: flour bound with boiling water and melted lard, worked while warm, and strong enough to stand without a tin. Traditionally the dough was hand-raised around a wooden dolly or shaped inside a hinged mould, giving straight sides and a decorated lid with a central hole.
The filling is raw meat packed in layers or blocks: seasoned diced or whole pieces of chicken, sometimes brined, alternated with ham or gammon, occasionally with a seasoned forcemeat holding the layers together. Herbs, mace, and white pepper are typical seasonings. The pie is baked long and gently so crust and dense filling cook through.
After baking, warm jellied stock, made from bones and often set with the trotter or gelatine, is poured through the lid hole to fill the gaps as the meat cools and shrinks. The pie is then chilled for hours or a day so the jelly sets, and it is always served cold, in slices, often with pickles and mustard.
What surprises a British or American cook
Everything about temperature and texture is reversed from a familiar hot chicken pie: this pie is baked, filled with jelly, chilled, and eaten cold in clean slices. The crust is sturdy lard-based hot water pastry rather than flaky shortcrust or puff, there is no gravy at all, and the jelly that alarms newcomers is the point of the dish.