Steak and Ale Pie - Another English Gift

Meat pies are the staples of English pub cuisine.  Well, I guess you have to add fish & chips to make it a full menu.

The most common English meat pie, Shepherd’s Pie I’ve already written about, given you a recipe, and done every bloody thing I can do for you besides strolling into your kitchen and slaving over your stove.

http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2012/07/english-cuisine-is-underrated-shepards.html

So, have you plucked up some courage and made that one yet?  You have?  Well, I take back all I said and Bravo! for you. Still basking in the glow of success and well wishes?  I thought so.

Now I’ve got another savory treat and one I often lust for, especially when I’m nesting in an English pub, with a pint of Real Ale in hand.

Steak and Ale Pie, or steak and ale pudding, if you prefer, is a rich concoction that’ll make you put down that pint of ale and unsheathe your trusty spoon.  For fighter pilots salivating over this, just remember I said ‘trusty spoon’ not ‘rusty spoon.’

Onward…I have to give a nod to The Hairy Bikers, from Lovefood.  I used their recipe, but not exactly.  Do you ever follow a recipe without making some twists and turns?  I don’t.  Can’t be helped.  You’re out of this, or can’t find that, or just think your way might better satisfy the hungry masses.

In this case, my son and I concocted and cooked together.  And, I don’t mean I just asked him to stir now and then.  Nope.  We truly cooked this dish together.  Just wanted to get that straight in case you think I easily step aside to reward somebody else with the credit. When it comes to cooking, relatives get no special breaks. He cooked.

So, now that I’ve wasted time with nods and kudos here and there, let’s get to the heart of a dish that will thrill and delight even the pickiest eaters, with the most ungrateful attitudes.  You know of whom I speak.  Our so-called loved ones.

Steak and Ale Pie  (start early – taking 2 hours to cook, not counting another hour or two of prep and pre-cooking)

Puff Pastry, I used a package of Pepperidge Farms.   Very good and puff pastry is a bitch to make.

5 Tablespoons sunflower oil

8 oz bacon, chopped or cut into thin strips

2 Onions, diced

5 Cloves garlic, diced

2 lbs of rump roast, fat removed and cut into 1 inch cubes (2 lbs after fat removal. A little more meat won’t hurt.)

A quart of ale. (I used a dark, German variety)

A pint of beef stock. (I used two heaping tablespoons of Bovril English beef extract, dissolved in a pint of warm water.)  For my money, Bovril is the richest of beef extracts and you want this beef stock to be almost black with richness.

1 Heaping Tablespoon tomato paste

4 Sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped from the stalks

3 Heaping Tablespoons cornstarch, blended with enough cold water to make it very creamy

½ Pound mushrooms, quartered

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Egg, scrambled (for painting the crust before baking)

Salt and Pepper to taste….when it tastes almost right, add a little more pepper.

We used three cooking pots:  A 12 inch cast iron skillet, a 12 inch round enamel casserole pan with a lid, an 8 by 13 inch glass-oven-proof casserole dish.

1.     Heat one tablespoon of oil in the skillet, then add the bacon.  Before the bacon starts to crisp, add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are golden.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon-onion-garlic mixture to the 12 inch round casserole pan.

2.     Heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC)

3.     Cook the steak in the skillet (small batches work best) until well browned. Add oil as necessary and transferred each batch of cooked meat to the round casserole pan.

4.     Deglaze the skillet with half the ale, scraping up the bits from the bottom.  Pour this over the beef/onion/bacon in the round casserole pan.

5.     Add the remaining ale, tomato paste, stock, and herbs to the casserole pan. Return to the stovetop and bring everything to a boil.  Put on the lid and slide it in the pre-heated oven for an hour and a half.

6.     Remove the casserole pan from the oven, put it on the stovetop, add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened.  Set it aside to cool a bit.

7.     Turn the oven up to 400ºF (200ºC)

8.     Heat 2 Tablespoons of butter in the skillet and add the mushrooms.  Cook until golden. Add them to the meat mixture.

9.     Pour the meat mixture into the oven-proof-glass casserole dish.

10.  Roll out the puff pastry.

11.  Paint the edges of the glass casserole dish with egg (so that the pastry topping sticks to the edges of the dish).  Stretch the pastry over the meat mixture and use a knife to poke holes in it. (this allows steam to escape)

12.  Paint the pastry topping with the remaining egg and pop the casserole dish in the oven for another 30-35 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and lightly brown.

If you’ve done things right, this pie will be so thick and rich that conversation will cease and in no time you’ll have some Olivers, bowls in hand, pleading pitifully, ”Please sir, may I have some more?”

I left out the steps about keeping the ale flowing while the Pie cooks.  A big red wine also works well. Your hungry guests may get testy if they’re left with time on their hands and beer on their minds.

You might consider putting out some Stilton and crackers, or perhaps some mild Gorgonzola. But, not too much.  This meal is filling by itself.

English Cuisine is Underrated - Shepherd's Pie

So, ok, you can forget the fantastic, silky sauces mastered by the French, and the elegant pastas and fish from the Mediterranean world, as well as the superbly smoked meats of northern Europe.  Still, there is a narrow window of down-home English cooking that fosters images of an amber pint of bitter, a roaring fire, and the conversational prater of the Queen’s English, floating through the air in a dark paneled pub.

Yes, I am an anglophile.  I like the damp, cool weather of England that pervades in the all but the hottest days of summer.  I look forward to sipping a pint in yet another historic pub, and the elegance of an evening at the theater.  I love the picturesque phrases that flow so easily off the British tongue to exactly capture the moment, in tones that only the English can master.  In a train station’s almost bare coffee shop, I heard a matron murmur, “The refreshments are woefully inadequate.”  What would an American say?  “There’s nothing worth eating,” or “This place stinks.”  Both are woefully inadequate.

Which brings us to the question:  What is worth eating in England?  The fish and chips are famous, but experience teaches this most well known of all English dishes ranges from the superb, crispy take-away, with memories of the sea, to the soggy and best forgotten.

Don’t forget the uncrowned king of the world’s breakfasts, the full English, with lean bacon, pork sausages (bangers), sunny-side-up eggs, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, and grilled mushrooms.  (See a previous post!)

What else?  On the special side, few things compare to a well-cooked standing rib, what the English call a joint of beef, some Yorkshire pudding, browned in beef drippings, deeply golden roasted potatoes, and some well-cooked vegetables.  Makes me think of that English institution, Simpson’s In the Strand.  By the way, well cooked doesn’t mean well done!  The Brits appreciate rare beef as much as anyone.

What about cheeses?  No, the English can’t compete with the French in variety, or subtlety, but the cheeses the English do produce are wonderful:  The quintessential Stilton, of course, plus a range of blues, and cheddars. Next time you’re in a top-end grocer’s, try a bit of English cheese and savor the full flavors and delicious complexities.

But, you get to the heart of longed-for English dishes when you step through the inviting doors of a traditional pub.  I refer to the so-called Pub Grub.  Steak and kidney pie.  The kidneys are finely minced and you don’t notice them, but they add flavor.  Steak and ale pie.  And, -roll of the drums-, my all time favorite, Shepherd’s pie.

None of these are difficult to make, but let’s make my quick version of the favorite.

Shepherd’s Pie

2 lbs ground lamb (or substitute 1 lb ground pork and 1 lb ground beef)

2 cans Campbell’s condensed beef consume

1 cup dry red wine

1 cup water

1 large onion, diced

1 large (16 to 20 oz) package of frozen, mixed vegetables (I use Birdseye Classic Mix)

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon marjoram

1 heaping tablespoon, chopped fresh dill, or 1 measured of tablespoon dried dill

2 heaping tablespoons flour, mixed with enough cold water to make a milky consistency

salt and pepper to taste

7 large baking potatoes

Cook the meat in a large skillet, breaking it up and stirring until all the pink has disappeared.  If you don’t have a large enough skillet, use a Dutch oven.  When the meat is done, pour off any excess grease.  Add the diced onion and cook until it’s translucent. Pour in the cans of beef consume and the cup of wine.  As it comes to a boil, add a cup of water and the vegetables and herbs.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Add the flour/water roux and mix.  Cook until the gravy begins to thicken.  Set the pan aside, while you make the mashed potatoes.

But, first, take a second to heat your oven to 350ºF (190ºC).

If you choose to use powdered potatoes, don’t!  Disappointment lurks around the corner, as appetizing as a flaccid French fry.  Start from scratch.  Peel the potatoes, and slice them into chunks.  Plop them in salted, hot water and bring to a boil.  The potatoes are cooked when a fork easily slides into one of the big chunks.

Drain the potatoes and put them in a large bowl.  Add a stick of butter, cut into pats, and use a pastry cutter, or potato masher to break the potatoes up and mix in the butter.  Time to drag out the hand mixer and finish the job.  Depending on the consistency of the potatoes, you may want to add a half-cup of milk while you’re getting the potatoes fluffy.

Back to the vegetable-meat mixture.  Put it in a large baking dish and use a spatula to spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the top.  When the surface is fairly smooth, use the tines of a fork to make a decorative pattern in the potatoes.

Slide the Shepard’s pie into the oven and bake it until the potato topping is looking crusty, with edges and peaks of light brown.

Grab yourself a Newcastle Brown Ale and serve your Shepherd’s pie to admiring guests and fellow anglophiles.  Let the French scoff.  When you mention anything English, they  scoff anyway.