Hot water crust
Hot water crust is a sturdy pastry made by melting fat into boiling water and working it into flour, used for free-standing raised pies.
Unlike almost every other pastry, it is worked warm and shaped while pliable. It sets into rigid walls that can stand without a tin, which is what makes tall raised pies possible.
It is the direct descendant of the medieval coffyn, and the pastry behind the classic British pork pie and raised chicken and ham pie.