These bad boys start with a meaty filling, so dig it:
FILLING
Step one:
1 lb ground beef
1 yellow onion, finely minced
3/4 C water
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 cup ketchup
Oregano, black pepper, nutmeg to taste.
Step two:
3 T flour
1/4 C water
Soften the onion in a pan with melted butter, add meat and brown. Remove excess fat, add the rest of the step one ingredients. Cover and boil for 15 minutes.
Mix the flour and water from step two to make a paste, and add it to the meat. Stir and allow to cool.
THE PIE:
You can do this two ways: a big round triumphant one that looks great but needs to be cut into slices, or small little power-beasts that are self contained. I like the latter, particularly in light of the ration of pastry to meat.
For the big guy, grease a pie plate and line with puff pastry. Pour the cooled filling into the pie, brush the exposed pie edge with an egg wash, then top it with another puff pastry and seal top and bottom with a fork. Trim the excess and bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then drop the heat to just 350 to cook for an additional 20 minutes or so (pull it when it’s golden brown).
For mini powerhouses, use small pans or a cupcake mold and follow the same instructions as for a big one. Make sure your seal is good between top and bottom crusts, then back at 425 for 10 minutes before dropping your heat, then go at 350 for 15 to 20 more. This is the version I make at home the most, and this is the version that my daughter bit into, looked at me and said “you are a god.” I knew that though.
A third way, turnover style, is possible as well but dropping sections of puff bastry onto a cookie sheet, filling them, pinching them shut, and sealing them with an egg wash. Follow heat instructions for the small pies. The nice thing here is they often open on the pan to expose the meat filling, which makes them look like meaty, sexy flowers. Yum.
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I just made them and they came out GREAT. I made a double batch of the meat mixture and may use the leftovers with pie dough to see what the difference is. I imagine they’d make dandy Sloppy Joes too.
Glad to here they worked out for you, but how did they work with basic pie dough? I still haven’t tried that variation yet.
Store-bought pie dough worked OK. The taste was fine, but it wasn’t as pretty or as flaky as the other stuff. (Maybe egg wash it all?) And since the dough came pre-cut in a circle, it was hard to cut into quarters and fold over the meat like a turnover… hard to make a triangle when one side is curved. But at half the price of the puff pastry, I can deal with it.
Interesting, thank you so much! I spent my childhood in Yorkshire in the UK, and I’ve been trying to find a recipe for this delicious pie I remember eating all the time, but can’t remember what we called it!!! Do you know a famous pie recipe from Yorkshire?
These dishes look great! I really love meat based food, and I find these images quite hunger generating. I recently had some bad experiences why cooking, and I could not understand why I wasn’t feeling that well.
I always liked going after recipes, and cooking dishes and dishes, and I recently bought a teflon pan which found quite easy to clean and use.
After some medical exams, and analisis, I found out that the problem was generated from a quite unexpected source!
After researching some aspects, I found out that teflon contains a chemical called per-flouro-octanoid-acid also known as PFOA, which can cause cancer.
If you over heat teflon coated pans, to 260 degrees Celsius, you get the risk of releasing that chemical…and this is a risk not worth taking.
So although teflon coated pans are easier to use, they imply high risks on our health…so it is advised that they be used properly.
So I want to warn you all, that no matter the dish, even indian dishes
such as fish curry, garlic prawn curry, dahiwali chicken curry it is important to be very carefull when using teflon pans.
A a kid growing up in Australia, I ate literally thousands of meat pies. This recipe is better than most but still not a proper Aussie meat pie. Puff pastry in a proper Aussie meat pie is sacrilege. Both the top and bottom crust should be made of a short pastry made with lard, and only lard, no vegetable shortening, butter etc. The filling should also be looser; loose enough so that if the pie is sliced the meat slowly oozes from the casing.
Thanks for the feedback Nigel. I was aware puff pastry wasn’t the optimum way to go, but thought getting people on the meat pie train would be possible only by making the process approachable by someone without too much work. Still, I’d love a proper recipe if you have one.
As for filling, I think that’s actually a stock photo the paper ran when I originally published my article about meat pies. Mine does run a bit freeer that the one pictured.
Thanks again, and please feel free to send a recipe.
CAN someone please post a recipe for the dough for a true aussie meat pie. I agree it is completely different!! My husband is Australian and he would love it if i could surprise him with pies one night!
I’d love one as well – as you can see, I had to cheat juuuuuuuuussssst a little.