A tasty meat pie!

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che'mark

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
36
Scotch Pie, Mutton Pie, another ancient recipe from the UK. Meat filled pies were the original fast food, the Pieman that Simple Simon met was not selling apple or cherry pies! They were made with a 'cold water crust' and easily held in one hand like a hamburger. I'm not so handy with the pastry and keep rolled up Pillsbury pie crusts on hand. My grocer often cuts Lamb legs in half and occasionally has a few steaks cut from the middle or a bit of 'stew' meat. It only takes 1/2 or 3/4 pounds of meat to do this and if you hate lamb you can use this to feed four people with one nice beef steak....

Ingredients

2 pie crusts
one medium onion, small dice
one medium to smallish potato, small dice
one lamb steak, diced 1/4 to 1/2 inch
one egg, beaten (not badly but you want to show it who's boss)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Put one pie crust in a 9 inch pie plate.
Mix all other ingredients and spread them on top of the first crust
Cover them with the second crust, seal the edges
Cut a few slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape or use a pie funnel
Place in preheated 350 degree oven for one hour.

For a prettier pie use two eggs and reserve enough egg to brush the top of the pie with.
 
This sounds very similar to the Cornish Pasties that my MIL makes. She is British and made them for my wife when she was growing up. They use ground beef, onions, potatoes and salt & pepper. They would shape the dough into triangular pieces, same principle as a hot pocket.
She told us how the wives of the miners would make them for their husbands since they were so easy to carry, hold, and eat.
I always thought they were kinda dry and bland, yours sounds much more flavorful, I will have to give it a try, thanks!
 
The old recipe I started with was a bit bland, since then I've started tasting the raw meat mix to be sure it has enough 'kick'. I'm doing one of these for lunch today but using half a rabbit, a small carrot, some parsnip and a much smaller potato. I pulled a few green onions from the garden yesterday and will add them to the mix.
 
Traditionally, a Cornish Pasty held savoury meat in one end of the pasty and sweet filling in the other so the miner had meat and dessert.

Also traditionally, a pie crust was thrown away as it was only used to preserve the meat inside and to act as a "carry bag" for the traveller. An Aussie meat pie is now made with puff pastry and should have chunks of beef in a rich gravy.

Pies form a fairly hefty part of my childhood upbringing - steak pies, steak and kidney, steak and mushroom, steak, kidney and mushroom, ham and egg, chicken and vegetables, as well as the Cornish pasty. Sometimes the pastry would be a shortcrust and sometimes puff. Every so often, we would even use Filo but that's a modern twist!!

Pies are a fabulous way to use up left over roast meats - just chunk the meat up, mix with some cooked veges and some form of sauce or gravy, put it in your pie base, top with another sheet of pastry, egg-wash it, stick a hole in the middle and bake!! Pick your pastry - just not a sweet one. Just cook until the pastry has risen and is golden brown.

A pie can be healthy but it can also be the least nutritious thing around!! Content laws on purchased pies state that "meat" can contain items other than muscle meat. So if you are wanting a good quality pie when you are out, you search down the "steak" not "beef" pies.

To me, whenever pie is mentioned, I think savoury. And there are just so many of them these days!! The last one I had that was different was a lasagna pie which I have to say was just wrong on so many fronts!

Golly if it wasn't too hot to run an oven at night, I know what I would be having for dinner tomorrow night!!
 
I think I started of on this website a looong time ago asking for tips on making cornish pasties. I am in the 'burbs of New Jersey and I am dying for a good pie. Yes, they are bland sometimes, but you can always put a bit of chutney or tomato sauce with your pie. You've made me drool - not good, since I'm also trying to lose weight! :)
 
The big difference between a Cornish pasty and a pie is the lack of gravy. A pie should be wet and a pasty not. We used to get a lot of home-made Cornish Pasties in our house which I was not so keen on cos I like my food damp to wet. I was the odd bod in my family.

To me a bland pasty means someone hasn't used enough Worcestershire sauce!! LOL
 
stews and meat pies...great ways to use leftovers or lesser cuts of meat economically. Love pastys too!
 
Traditionally, a Cornish Pasty held savoury meat in one end of the pasty and sweet filling in the other so the miner had meat and dessert.

The thick braided part of the crust was designed for the miner to hold as the original miners had no washing facilities underground and their hands were filthy. They would eat the pei holding onto the braid, getting that dirty and then this was discarded when they had finished the rest of the pei.
 
Most of the time I cook the meat and veggies inside the pie. Boning a raw rabbit is a bit of a challenge, they just arent put together like a chicken.
Some of you will surely have a fit but when I bake a steak pie there is always a Ribeye steak in it. Comes out as tender as the potatoes. I shoot for the filling to be moist enough not to need gravy but dry enough to hold together.
Onion pie is another favorite, it's a French single crust pie and will go on the menu here when the onion crop comes in. Thats March or April and after that it will be too hot here for pies and stews, Bilby it's a pleasure to meet someone who shares my love for savory pies and old recipes.
 
LOL Che'mark!! I usually don't look at the pie threads on DC cos they are usually sweet which just doesn't do it for me. To have some savoury pie lovers here makes me happy!! But won't be having any home baked pies until the sun has pulled it's shade down a bit!!!
 
Being in Florida I know what you mean about the heat, it gets pretty unbearable here and air conditioning is a must. Lamb pie is my favorite and I don't get uppity about what I put in that. The price of lambchops is through the roof but all the rest of the lamb is fairly inexpensive, A sirloin half of a leg will get me plenty for a couple pies and a nice lamb stew. I made the pie once with ground lamb instead of cut up and it was awfully dry. It's funny but lamb is not real popular here in the States so I have to be careful when I invite guests for a lamb dinner.
 
Found the same problem in Europe years ago. We were staying with friends and thought we would buy a leg of lamb and make a roast dinner for them. It was going to cost us 21 pounds Sterling for this small leg, which at the time was about A$60!!!! Think we took em to dinner in the end. It was cheaper!!! LOL
 
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