English Meat Pie Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Pie Crust: Mix flour and shortening. Add salt and cold water. Add all the cold water at once and mix delicately. Form a ball and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Once dough is chilled, flour your worktop. Divide dough in half. Roll out 2 pie crusts. One should be slightly larger than the other, this will be your bottom crust.
• Meat Filling: Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the pork and onion and cook over medium-low heat for 45 minutes, stirring often. When pork is cooked remove fat from pan. Add grated potato, salt, pepper, and allspice, to taste. Stir well, and let mixture rest for 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the bottom of 9-inch pie plate. Place the bottom crust in the pie plate and poke several holes in the crust with a fork. Make sure an ample amount of crust spills over the edges of the pie plate. Fill the crust with the meat mixture. Level with a spatula. Wet edges of bottom crust and place top crust over meat mixture. Press top crust onto meat mixture to eliminate any air holes. Beat together the egg and the milk to make an egg wash. Pinch the crust edges together and brush the top crust with the egg wash.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
• Slice and serve hot or cold.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the pie crust out into a 12 inch circle. Set aside.
• Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add potato and onion, and cook until the onion is tender, but not brown. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, and stir to blend. Season with oregano, black pepper and garlic powder. Pour in the beef broth, and add the peas, carrot and beef. Bring to a boil. Transfer the mixture to a 2 quart casserole dish, and place the pastry over the top. Cut slits for steam, and flute the edges.
• Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving to thicken.

Steps:

• Put the flour in a mixing bowl.
• Combine the water, milk, lard and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let simmer until the lard melts.
• Add the liquid to the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. This dough should be shaped or rolled while it is still hot or quite warm.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• To Make Meat Filling: Place a large skillet over medium heat. Crumble in ground beef and saute 1 minute. Add onion and carrot, then continue to saute until meat is no longer pink and onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Mix in flour, cinnamon, mixed herbs, and parsley.
• In a small bowl, combine beef broth and tomato paste. Mix together, then add to beef mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Lower heat and simmer mixture for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until almost all of liquid has been absorbed. Spoon mixture into a 9 inch pie plate.
• To Make Potato Topping: Place diced potatoes in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and place over high heat. Allow to come to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Drain.
• Mash potatoes until smooth, then add butter or margarine, followed by milk. Whip until fluffy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread potatoes over beef filling. Sprinkle with grated Cheddar cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, until top is browned and cheese is bubbly.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough by combining the butter with flour in a food processor or stand mixer until the mixture is mealy (you can also use your hands). Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Add enough water to form a dough that can be rolled. Put in refrigerator while you make the filling.
• Saute the onion and garlic in butter until soft, but not browned. Cool. Mix all filling ingredients with your hands as you would a meatloaf.
• Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll one to about 1/8 inch for the bottom. Form filling into an oval loaf on dough and pull up dough to partially cover sides. Roll the other piece of dough to 1/8 thick. Use and egg wash to secure crusts and encase meat loaf in its entirety. Cut a hole in the top to allow steam to escape. Coat entire pastry with egg wash. Left over dough can be cut into decorations and attached to outside of pastry. (I used small Christmas Cookie Cutters to make reindeer, etc.).
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees and cook pie about 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and cook 1 hour more or until center registers 150 degrees on a meat thermometer and pastry is browned. Allow to cool.
• To make the aspic combine chicken stock with unflavored gelatin and microwave until boiling. Pour through hole in top. Refrigerate 3 hours to serve cold.

Steps:

• Dough Dice butter. Combine flour & butter. With fingers, press butter into flour until the mix looks mealy. Crack egg into small dish, add 4 tbsp ice water. Beat. Add to flour bowl. Mix just until a paste forms. Slowly add remaining ice water if mix doesn't come together. Split into 1/3 & 2/3 portions. Shape into a disk & wrap with plastic. refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day before using. Filling In med saute pan over med-high heat melt butter. Add onion & garlic, stir often until soft but not at all brown - 4 minutes. Set aside to cool then refrigerate to chill. Put pork, ham, S&P, thyme, & the onion-garlic mixture in a bowl. Use hands or spatula to mix well. Slowly add stock a few tbsp at a time until incorporated. Cover & refrigerate until cold, 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425-F On a flowered work surface, roll the larger piece of dough into a 12-inch circle, 1/8-inch thick. Brush off excess flour, place on baking sheet. Shape meat into a 5-inch x 2 1/2-inch thick disk & place in the center of the dough. Carefully lift the edges of the dough & wrap around the meat so that the top is partially covered. Roll out the remaining dough until it's 1/8-inch thick & cut a 6-inch circle from the center. Cut a 3/4-inch hole in the center of this dough circle. Set aside. Egg wash In a small bowl whisk the 3 ingredients until uniformly blended. Using a pastry brush, paint the edges of the dough that encases the meat. Then paint one side of the 6-inch dough circle. Lift the circle, place egg wash side down on the meat. Crimp seam to seal with bottom crust. Brush top. Bake 20-25 minutes, until crust begins to brown. Reduce oven to 350-F, bake 50 minutes until internal temp of pie is 150-F. Remove pie & rest for 15 minutes. Serve warm, at room temp, or chilled. To serve chilled, make aspic: Combine chicken stock with gelatin. Microwave to dissolve gelatin. Pour slowly through steam vent in top of pie. Let cool, refrigerate until firm, 3 hours.