Pork pie when the pie is cooked, traditional recipes specified that clarified butter or a hot pork stock was poured into the pie after baking. This would set when cool, filling the gap between meat and pastry and preventing air from reaching the filling and causing it to spoil. Commercial makers use a 6% solution of gelatin at between 80 and 90 degrees Celsius, added into the pie immediately after baking. The Melton Mowbray pork pie is named after Melton Mowbray, a town in Leicestershire. While it is sometimes claimed that Melton pies became popular among fox hunters in the area in
Melton Mowbray zone around Melton, and using uncured pork, are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray name on their packaging. On 6 April 1837, the 3rd Marquess of Waterford and his hunting party went on a "spree" through the streets of Melton, causing much damage. This event was recorded in the "London Examiner". Henry Alken's pictures "A Spree at Melton Mowbray" and "Larking at the Grantham Tollgate" are said to illustrate the event. The events were depicted in a play called "The Meltonians" at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1838. Melton Mowbray is home to Melton cloth (first mentioned in 1823),