Aberdeen Beef Pie Food

ABERDEEN BEEF PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain. Brown the beef in drippings in batches; drain and set beef aside. Add onion to the pan; saute until crisp-tender. Add carrots, bacon and beef. , Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the flour, broth and Worcestershire sauce until smooth; add to beef mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until meat is tender, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Stir in peas, salt and pepper. Transfer to an ungreased 11x7-in. baking dish. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out crust into a 12x8-in. rectangle. Cut slits in crust. Place over filling; trim and seal edges. If desired, brush with beaten egg. Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbly, 35-40 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

PROPER BEEF, ALE & MUSHROOM PIE

Steps:

• If you're using the porcini mushrooms, cover 10g of mushrooms in boiling water for 20 mins, then squeeze out but keep the soaking water.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large casserole dish, brown 1kg large chunks of braising steak really well in batches, then set aside.
• Add 2 large onions, roughly chopped, and 4 large carrots, chopped into large chunks, to the pan. Add a drizzle more vegetable oil, then cook on a low heat for 5 mins until coloured.
• Add the soaked porcini mushrooms, sizzle for 1 min more, then scatter over 2 tsp golden caster sugar and 4 tbsp plain flour, stirring until the flour turns brown.
• Tip the braising steak and any juices back into the pan and give it all a good stir.
• Pour over 300ml dark ale, 2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water and the porcini mushroom soaking liquid, discarding the last few drops.
• Season the stew, tuck in a small tied-together bunch of thyme, bay leaf and parsley, and bring everything to a simmer.
• Cover with a lid and place in the oven for about 2 hrs, until the braising steak is really tender.
• While the stew is cooking, heat a drop more vegetable oil in a frying pan and sizzle 200g smoked bacon lardons for 3 mins until crisp.
• Turn up the heat, add 200g halved chestnut mushrooms and cook for 4 mins until golden. Remove from the heat and, when the stew is cooked, stir them through.
• Leave everything to cool completely - better still, make this up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge as the pie will be better if the filling is fridge-cold when added. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted when needed.
• Make the pastry up to 2 days before you want to assemble the pie. Crumble 650g plain flour and 250g cold diced lard or butter, together with a generous pinch of sea salt until completely combined, then add up to 200ml ice-cold water to make a soft dough. This can be done in a food processor if you want.
• Knead the pastry, then wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hr. The pastry can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge or frozen for up to a month.
• When you want to make the pie, heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 and place a flat baking tray in the oven. Heavily grease a 24-28cm pie dish and dust well with flour.
• Cut a third off the pastry and set aside. Roll out the pastry to a thickish round that will easily line the pie dish with an overhang, then line the tin.
• Add the braising steak to the dish using a slotted spoon so some gravy is left in the container, as you don't want too much sauce in the pie. You want the filling to be slightly higher than the rim of the dish. If you have a bit too much, set it aside.
• Roll out the remaining pastry to a thick round big enough to cover the dish. Brush the edges of the pastry in the dish with 1 beaten egg yolk, then cover with the pastry lid.
• Trim the edges, crimp the pastry, then re-roll your trimmings to make a decoration, for example, pastry leaves. Brush the top heavily with egg. Make a few little slits in the centre of the pie, place on the hot baking tray.
• Bake for 40 mins until golden. Leave the pie to rest for 10 mins while you heat up the gravy left in the container. Serve the pie at the table with a jug of gravy and a big pile of greens.

AUTHENTIC SCOTCH PIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Start by oiling the pie tins with a little vegetable oil, or put cling film over the end of the glasses/jars you intend to use.
• Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
• Cut the lard into cubes and add to a small pot of hot water, stirring until it's melted. Don't allow the water to boil.
• Pour the mixture into the flour well and mix together with a wooden spoon, until it's mostly combined. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead a little to make sure it's fully combined. As the hot water pastry cools it becomes harder to manage so you need to work reasonably quickly.
• Divide the pastry into 4 balls and then take a little from each ball to save for the pie lid. Between a quarter to a third depending on the size of the pies you're making.
• Roll out the pastry balls to about 5mm thickness one by one and put them into the pie tins, ensuring there is a flat even edge to the top of the sides of the pie. We rolled to approximately 20cm each for our 10cm tins. If you're using a jar or glass then drape the pastry over and cut around it to ensure it has a flat edge where the top of the pie casing will be.
• Roll out the lids and put them on cling film or baking paper on a tray. The lids will need to fit inside of the pie casing so you'll want to make sure they are not the exact size of the tins/cases but slightly smaller.
• Put all of the pastry in the fridge to harden.
• In the meantime, finely chop one small onion and fry in a pan. Add the mace and mixed herbs, and then put in a bowl with the minimum amount of stock/gravy.
• Once cooled add to the lamb and mix through. Add additional stock/gravy if the mixture isn't too wet. You don't want there to be too much liquid as it will leak out of the pie while cooking and make the pastry soggy.
• Divide the lamb mixture up and fill the pie cases about 3/4 full.
• Push the pie lids down into the pie casing, so they are around 1cm from the top of the pie.
• Cut a small hole in the top of the pies to let the air escape.
• Put the pies in the oven for around 45 minutes at 180°C or 356°F. Check at 35/40 minutes as you want the pastry to be just golden-brown.
• You can remove from the tins as soon as they're cool enough to handle.