DON Pie + Competition!
Sponsored by Nuffnang
I remember the first time I heard the catch phrase Is DON. Is Good. was on television with the commercial where one guy runs off with someone else’s sandwich in the park. That ad always made me laugh and the catch phrase really did a good job of sticking in your head and now DON Deli Meats have brought out a new campaign emphasizing their quality and craftsmanship with their fleischmeister.
Milo licking his lips from sight and smell of all that fleischmeister meat
No, the fleischmeister is not some innuendo for their hot and spicy salamis 
but they are very specialised (as in only 6 in the world sepcialised) meat-men who oversee the production of Don Salami & Continental products from beginning to end ensuring their high quality with authentic European recipes. Allowing meat to mature and develop fully over time does really make a difference and it is a pity that the modern world demands everything instantaneous. Fortunately these fleischmeisters have come to the rescue.
D and I decided to go with a DON pie that is loosely based on one of Jaime’s recipes.
Of course some taste testing beforehand was mandatory 
and these slices of leg ham were all very aromatic and flavoursome but the honey roasted version won us over with its’ sweet hint of honey that complemented the natural sweetness of the leg ham. The double smoked also was very impressive with its’ lovely smoky flavour. The only problem with tasting beforehand was that it would have been very easy to finish the whole packet even before the cooking started!
Cutting up the onions, carrots and celery
The addition of some aromatic herbs of rosemary and bay leaves
Chopping up a combination of the 3 flavours of leg ham
Milo was kindly keeping me company while I prepared the hams and the salamis
But I personally thought he was just hoping that I would drop some ham or salami hee hee.
We had got the Hot Hungarian Salami and the White Hungarian Salami to try out different flavours. We found that the White Hungarian did have a creamier texture and taste but the Hot Hungarian won us over with a beautiful subtle pepper and spicy kick. Now we know the true powers of the fleischmeister!
A nice dash of mustard does wonders with ham ^^!
After adding in the stock, we let it stew down to a nice thickish and flavourful filling for our pie
We had a bit of time waiting for the filling to reduce down so we got a little bit artistic hee hee (or bored)
Give the pastry a good egg wash to make it go lovely and golden brown
We were a little bit worried when it didn’t puff up where the letters were but they were soon put to rest when we took the pie out of the oven.
Is DON. Is Good. Is very tasty in pastry-form
A beautifully crispy pastry and a deep, rich filling really makes these cold days disappear. Most of the flavour of the filling has come from the Hot Hungarian Salami but the chunks of leg ham of all flavours also contributed in their own ways. Nothing beats a PIE XD and this is a recipe I would definitely try again, maybe with different meats like bacon or chunks of cheese kransky hee hee.
“The DON’s ultimate gourmet creation” – To all the home chefs out there, give this a try and have some fun! Create a recipe using some DON’s products and enter it to the Nuffnang Blog. The entries will be judged by DON’s and the five most creative entries will receive a dinner voucher to a top restaurant in their home town. The competition will run until 9am on Monday 21 December and the winners will be announced on 23 December.
The opinions, comments and recipes in this blog are the bloggers own and have not been supplied by Don Smallgoods
FFichiban
December 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Sorry guys I accidentally deleted all the comments to add the read more option on the home page. I apologies for any inconvenience.
December 8th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
GG n00b haha jkjk we still love you