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Meat Me inthe Middle

Text, recipes and photos by Dragana Arežina Harris

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Hearty and nutritious, meat pies have been part of the human diet since the ancient Greeks combined flour and wa-ter to form a rough dough, filled it with meat and sealed it tightly. The crust helped cook and preserve the filling. These light packets were handy to-go meals and allowed a seafaring people greater mobility.

Later, Medieval Europe introduced the coffyn, a “box” made of flour, suet and water, with straight thick-walled sides and a top. It was a disposable baking dish of sorts, and it protected the game meats inside during baking. Alas, it was largely inedible. If the servants were lucky, some of the meat juices were absorbed into the coffyn, and they were allowed to eat it after the nobility had consumed the meat. Thankfully, our modern day baking dishes have eliminated the need to make our own coffyns.

In England, the magpie became the main ingredient for the meat pie filling. The very word pyes or “pies” is believed to have derived from the name of the hapless bird, and its use is cited by the

Oxford English Dictionary as early as 1303. In addition, early French recipes around 1300 contain several pasté recipes describing a pie filled with game or seafood with vegetables. The Cornish pasty – the national dish of Cornwall – takes its name from the same root word and brings together savory meat and vegetables encased in a buttery pastry.

The French improved the pie’s crust by developing new techniques, such a folding the dough onto itself and adding flavorful butter or lard. This ultimately led to today’s flakey, tender pastry that’s often even more appealing to some diners than is its filling.

These days, almost every nation has a version of meat pie, from the Latin American empanada, Jewish knish, Moroccan b’stilla, Polish pirozhki, Asian samosa, Bosnian or Turkish burek, British steak and kidney pie, tourtière of the Québécois and Acadians, to one of my favorites – the greasy, spicy Jamaican spiced patties I enjoy on occasion at my neighborhood Fiesta grocery store.

Here’s an easy recipe for an Irish-style

meat pie. Its key ingredients are stout beer such as Guinness, beef chuck, bacon, lots of onions and earthy mush-rooms. Add a thick, flakey top crust and this dish is ready to take on a chilly winter evening.

BEEF, MUSHROOM AND STOUT PIE

½ lb. bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces3½ to 4 lbs. beef chuck, cut into

1½ inch cubessalt and freshly ground black pepper3 cups diced yellow onions1 bottle stout or other dark beer1 lb. mushrooms, brushed clean and

sliced in half4 large carrots, peeled, sliced ½-inch

thickhandful of parsley leaves 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce2 cups low-sodium beef stock, or more

if needed6 sprigs fresh thyme3 bay leaves2 cups green peas (optional)

BEEF, MUSHROOM AND STOUT PIE

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Pastry Topping1½ cups all-purpose flour½ tsp. salt10 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter (1¼

stick), cut into 10 pieces¼ cup ice water

Pastry Glaze1 large egg beaten lightly with 1 Tbsp. water will make an egg wash that will brown the pastry topping beautifully.

METHOD: Cook bacon pieces over medium heat in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from fat with a slot-ted spoon and drain on paper towels. Reserve the bacon. Pour fat into a cup, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the skillet.

Season the beef cubes lightly with salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Heat skillet used to cook the bacon to medium-high. Sauté cubes of beef in single-layered batches, adding additional bacon fat as needed to prevent beef from sticking to the pan and burning. When all the cubes are browned on at least two sides, put them in an oven-proof dish. (I used my 9 x 13 Le Creuset roaster.)

Preheat oven to 400˚F. To the warm skillet, add onions and a little more bacon fat. Stir over medium heat until onions start to brown, about 5 minutes. Add stout to deglaze the skillet, scraping the bottom to release any tasty bits. Pour mixture over beef cubes. Add mushrooms, carrots, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock. Stir well. You want the meat to be covered with enough of the liquid, so add more if necessary. Top with bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Cover dish with a tightly fitting lid and place in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Reduce oven tempera-ture to 300˚F and allow it to braise for an additional 1½ hours.

Remove roaster from oven and carefully remove lid. (Watch out for escaping steam.) Remove thyme stems and bay leaves. Taste meat to see if it’s tender; it may need an additional 30 minutes or so in the oven. Add salt to taste, if necessary. Add cooked bacon and peas (optional). Stir. Allow meat to cool slightly while rolling out the dough for top.

IN THE SKILLET USED TO COOK THE BACON, SAUTÉ CUBES OF BEEF IN SINGLE-LAYERED BATCHES WITH BACON FAT.

ADD MUSHROOMS, CARROTS, PARSLEY, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE AND BEEF STOCK TO THE BEEF MIXTURE.

TOP WITH BAY LEAVES AND THYME SPRIGS. COVER WITH A TIGHT LID AND BAKE FOR 30 MINUTES AT 400°.REDUCE HEAT TO 300° AND BRAISE ANOTHER 1½ HOURS.

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Dragana Arežina Harris is a life-long food, wine and travel enthusiast. She blogs about food at draganabakes.blogspot.com and dabbles in chocolate at dragana-bakes.com

While the meat is braising, make the pastry.

Place flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add butter and work it in with your fingertips until butter is about the size of small peas. Add ice water and mix with a fork until dough becomes shaggy. Dump dough onto a floured counter and gather it together. Knead the dough by pressing and sliding it against the work surface just until it becomes a rough ball. Do not over-knead. The butter pieces should still be visible. Remove a small portion – about a 2-inch ball – for the decorative shapes on top of the pastry. Flatten the larger ball with the palms of your hands into a disc and press the edges to form a neat edge. Wrap both pieces in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the meat is ready.

To top the pie:Remove pastry from refrigerator and

allow it to soften for about 20 minutes. Dust counter with flour. Place large disc on counter and dust with additional flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry crust to about 11 x 15 inches, or large enough to cover your roaster with an extra 1-inch overhang. Using a small cookie cutter of your choice, punch the shape in the middle of the dough to form a steam vent. Starting on one short end of the pastry, roll pastry onto rolling pin. Transfer carefully onto top of meat. Tuck edges of pastry under at the edge of the roaster. Press into edge of the pan and crimp, if desired. I left it uncrimped for a more rustic look. Brush pastry with egg wash (recipe above to the left). Roll out 2-inch pastry dough to about ¼ inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutter and place decoratively on pastry. Brush with egg wash.

Bake in 400˚F oven until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve in bowls with crusty bread and a salad. Delicious with a hearty stout or glass of red wine. Serves 8 to 10.

ADD ICE WATER TO FLOUR AND BUTTER AND MIX WITH A FORK.

USING A ROLLING PIN, ROLL OUT THE PASTRY CRUST SO IT'S LARGE ENOUGH TO COVER YOUR ROASTER WITH A 1-INCH OVERHANG.

WITH THE RESERVED PASTRY DOUGH, ROLL AND CUT SHAPES AND PLACE DECORATIVELYON THE PASTRY OF THE MEAT PIE.