🥧Meat Pies

Before You Start

I've started this recipe the morning of serving (we ate the pies for dinner), but you can spread the love over a day or two. The meat benefits from being 'dry-brined' (sprinkled with salt) for 30 minutes to 2 hours before browning. The pie filling takes around 6 hours in a slow cooker and needs to be chilled before going in the pastry shells. It will then sit quite happily in the fridge for a few days before baking the pies. The timing's below are the minimum.

Cook the filling - 7 hours

Cool the filling – at least 4 hours (can be sped up in the freezer for a short time).

Chill pies before baking – 1 hour

Bake - 20 minutes

Cool -10 minutes

Prep Time1

Cook Time6

Chill, Rest & Bake5 30

Total Time12 30

Servings: 8 pies

Author: Hangry Miss

Equipment

8 small pie dishes These can be quite variable and that's OK. Mine measure 7.5cm (3 in) across the bottom, 11cm (4 in) across the top.
Slow cooker

Ingredients

Filling

750 g stewing steak (note)
7g cooking/kosher salt
40 g cornflour/cornstarch
145 g/ml water
Teaspoon whole black peppercorns
cinnamon stick
high-smoke point oil, like avocado oil
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
100 ml red wine
2 ½ Tablespoons thick/dark soy sauce
400 ml water
2 bay leaves
Shortcrust pastry for pie bases (note)
Puff pastry for tops (note)
egg yolk with a tablespoon water

Instructions

Filling

Baking Paper – using the lid of the slow-cooker as a template, cut out a piece of baking paper and set aside.
Dry Roast Spices– preheat a frying pan over low-medium heat. Add the whole peppercorns, and cinnamon stick for a minute or two until fragrant. Pick out the cinnamon stick and set aside. Transfer the peppercorns to a spice grinder or mortar and grind to a fine powder.
Teaspoon whole black peppercorns
cinnamon stick
Dry & Salt Meat – remove any thick layers of fat around the outside of the meat. You might find it easier to use paper towel to get a good grip and pull it off. Lay the steaks on a chopping board and press with paper towel to dry the outside until matte. Sprinkle generously with salt on all sides, from a height so that the salt is evenly spread. Place on a rack and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
750 g stewing steak
7g cooking/kosher salt
Brown Meat – preheat a frying pan with about a tablespoon of high-smoke point oil each over high heat. Brown the meat on both sides. Transfer browned steaks to a chopping board to rest for 10 minutes before you cut them into bitesize cubes. Place these in the slow cooker bowl. Stir through the ground pepper.
high-smoke point oil, like avocado oil
Cornflour Slurry - combine the cornflour with 145g/ml water in a small bowl and set aside.
40 g cornflour/cornstarch
145 g/ml water
Tomato Paste & Wine - when you have browned and transferred all the meat, take the pan off the heat. If the pan looks dry, add a touch more oil. Add the tomato paste and fry very briefly until thickened and darkened, continuously stirring. A flexible silicone spatula is handy for smearing the paste onto the base of the pan. Next, pour in the wine and stir occasionally for a couple of minutes until reduced by half. Use a flat wooden spatula to help 'deglaze' the pan ie loosen any bits stuck to the pan. There is wonderful flavour in these stuck on meaty bits.
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
100 ml red wine
Finish Sauce - add the soy sauce to 400ml water and pour the liquid into the pan. Bring to a simmer.
2 ½ Tablespoons thick/dark soy sauce
400 ml water
Thicken Sauce – give the cornflour slurry a good stir first, then pour it into the sauce. Stir constantly. The mixture will get thick, quite quickly. Keep it on the move. Move onto the next step without delay.
Cook - pour the hot liquid over the meat and stir through, pushing the meat down. Push in the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Cover with the layer of baking paper and put on the lid. Cook on LOW for a minimum of 6 hours or up to eight hours.
2 bay leaves
Chill - remove the slow cooker bowl from the base. Allow to cool a little. Pick out and discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Transfer to the fridge. Allow to chill overnight. If you're in a hurry, put it in a large, shallow dish, cover well and put in the freezer for an hour (no longer!) before putting in the fridge.

Pie Assembly

Rolling Out - take the shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and leave to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before working with it. Use a tape measure to measure from edge to edge of pie tin. Measure down a side, across the bottom and up the opposite side. Find something round to trace around that has this diameter. Divide the shortcrust into four so that each section will make 2 pie bases. This will help prevent the dough getting to warm and sticky as you work with it. It will also keep the pastry a manageable size to work with. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Dust the top and underside of the dough and the rolling pin with more flour as needed to stop sticking. You’re aiming for 2-3mm thick. If the sheet you’ve rolled is a bit ragged at the edges and not quite the right dimensions, don't stress. Cut a strip from elsewhere, lay it down to overlap with the dough sheet. Roll to press together. Use this technique to reuse dough scraps too. This is better than gathering them up into a ball and re-rolling because it limits the working of the dough. We want to keep clumps of butter in the pastry rather than smooshing them together.
Shortcrust pastry for pie bases
Line Tins – transfer each pastry round to the tins. Ensure the pastry is lying flush with the tin all the way around and that there’s no air pockets. Drape and gently push in, do not stretch and pull pastry (this will cause pastry to shrink when it bakes). Don’t worry if there’s a touch of pleating in the dough. Trim any pastry overhang. This is a forgiving pastry; use offcuts of pastry to patch up any gaps or thin areas. Press small pieces of dough to merge. Put the lined pie tins back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Decorations - use dough scraps to make decorations for the tops of the pies. Transfer these to a plate. Refrigerate until needed.
Cut Lids – cut out squares for each pie top. Leave the pastry on the plastic sheet it came packaged with for easier handling. Refrigerate until needed.
Puff pastry for tops
Fill Pies - Stir the meat filling well and share out half of it between the four bases. With a light touch, use a fork to distribute the chunks of meat evenly.
Top – drape a puff pastry lid over the meat. Press down firmly to seal the two types of pastry edges together with a floured thumb. Use a fork to crimp down the edges. Trim any overhang with a small sharp knife. Lightly brush the lid with egg yolk. Place any pre-made pastry decorations on the top (off centre). Pierce the pastry in the middle of the lid. Put the fully assembled pie back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This allows the pastry to relax again after being worked. This reduces shrinkage on baking. It also keeps the butter in the dough firm so that we get nice crisp pastry as it melts in a hot oven. Melting butter creates steam and creates puffy layers. You can preheat the oven in this time.
egg yolk with a tablespoon water

Bake

Preheat oven - 200°C.
Bake – put the pies on a baking sheet (not a refrigerated one). Cook for 20 minutes, until the top puffy and deeply browned. Cool the pies for 10 minutes in the tins before turning out. Twist (rotate) the pies within the tins first, to check that any filling leakage has not stuck it to the tin. If it doesn’t spin, run a knife gently under the lip of pastry to loosen it.

Notes

Stewing Steak – for this recipe we want a ‘secondary cut’ of beef with the bone out. Some good options are Chuck (also known as blade), gravy beef (also known as stewing or braising steak) OR
oyster blade (aka flat iron steak in the US or butler’s steak/feather blade steak in the UK) – my personal favourite.

Shortcrust Pastry - sold in sheets or as a roll. You'll need about 800g. Try to buy an all-butter one, rather than one made with vegetable oils.

Puff Pastry - sold in sheets or as a roll. You’ll need two packets. You'll have leftovers. If you can, spend a bit more to get an all-butter version, rather than one made with vegetable oils (better flavour!).

Make Ahead/Freeze

Maybe you want to get the filling prepared ready for an overnight slow cook. If you want prepare the filling in advance, complete up to (and including) the ‘Finish Sauce’ step. When ready; reheat the sauce to a simmer and proceed. Don’t add the cornflour in advance. The sauce needs to be hot when you pour it over the meat and start the slow cooking.

You can make the meat filling and shortcrust pastry in advance. Either refrigerate for up to three days or freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight before proceeding.

You can assemble the pies completely (even down to the egg wash) in advance. Freeze in their tins in a well-sealed container. Cook for 40 minutes (don't defrost first) at 200°C.

Cooked too many pies? When I wrote this post I cooked all eight pies. We ate four that day. I allowed the remaining four pies to cool completely, then popped them in the freezer. They reheated well. I put them back in the pie tins, put the tins in a baking dish and covered with foil (I didn't want the pastry to brown any more). 40 minutes at 200°C. Allow them to rest in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out.