Meat Pie

Ingredients

Filling

• 600 gbeef mince (roughly 15% fat), or chuck steak finely diced
• 2 tbspbeef dripping or vegetable oil
• 1large onion, finely diced
• 2garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 500 mlbeef stock
• 2 tbsptomato sauce (ketchup)
• 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
• 1 tspVegemite or 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tspdried thyme
• 1bay leaf
• salt and plenty of black pepper
• 2 tbspcornflour mixed with 3 tbsp cold water

Pastry

• 500 gshortcrust pastry, for the bases
• 400 gall-butter puff pastry, for the lids
• 1egg, beaten with 1 tbsp milk

To serve

• tomato sauce, generously

Directions

1. Brown the mince hard in the dripping in a wide pan over high heat, in two batches so it fries rather than steams, until it is deeply coloured and catching on the base, about 8 minutes.
2. Add the onion and garlic and cook 6 minutes until soft, then stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes so it loses its raw taste.
3. Pour in the stock, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, Vegemite, thyme and bay leaf, scraping the browned bits off the base, and season well.
4. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the meat is tender and the gravy has reduced by about a third, then stir in the cornflour slurry and cook 2 minutes until the filling is very thick and holds a spoon upright.
5. Cool the filling completely, ideally overnight in the fridge. A warm filling melts the pastry base into a soggy pancake and this step is the difference between a good pie and a leaky one.
6. Line four 10 cm pie tins with shortcrust rolled to 3 mm, pressing well into the corners, and chill 20 minutes. Blind bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes with baking beans, then 5 minutes uncovered until the base is dry and sandy.
7. Fill each case to the brim with cold filling, brush the rim with egg wash, and top with a puff pastry lid, pressing the edges together and trimming flush. Cut a small steam vent in the centre of each.
8. Brush the lids with egg wash and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 25–30 minutes, until the puff has risen high and is deep golden brown and the filling bubbles at the vent. Rest 10 minutes, turn out, and serve with a thick zigzag of tomato sauce over the top, eaten in the hand.

Technique

• The two-pastry construction is the Australian standard and it is functional: a sturdy shortcrust base holds the gravy without leaking, while a puff lid gives the flaky top. Puff on the bottom collapses.
• The filling must be thick to the point of stiffness when cold. A loose gravy will boil, lift the lid and run out through the vent.
• A teaspoon of Vegemite is a genuine trick in Australian kitchens: the yeast extract adds glutamate depth and colour that a stock cube alone will not give.
• The meat pie is eaten at football grounds by the million and is a national institution rather than a refined dish; it is meant to be eaten standing up, in a paper bag.

Substitutions

• No beef dripping? Vegetable oil works, though you lose some of the savoury weight.
• Chuck steak diced by hand and simmered for 2 hours makes a chunkier, more old-fashioned pie; add an extra 200 ml of stock.

Variations

• The pie floater of Adelaide, a whole pie upended in a bowl of green pea soup with tomato sauce and mint.
• Steak and kidney, or steak and mushroom, both standard bakery variants.
• The party pie, the same filling in a bite-sized case, served at every Australian children’s party.

History

Hand-held pies came with British settlers; Four’N Twenty, launched at Bendigo in 1947, industrialised them into the football-ground standard.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meat Pie?

Meat Pie is a snack from Australia: flaky hand-held pie of minced beef and gravy, doused with tomato sauce. Hand-held pies came with British settlers; Four’N Twenty, launched at Bendigo in 1947, industrialised them into the football-ground standard.

How long does Meat Pie take to make?

Meat Pie takes 40 min of preparation and 1 hr 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 pies. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Meat Pie?

Yes, within limits. No beef dripping? Vegetable oil works, though you lose some of the savoury weight. Chuck steak diced by hand and simmered for 2 hours makes a chunkier, more old-fashioned pie; add an extra 200 ml of stock.

What is the most important thing to get right in Meat Pie?

Brown the mince hard in the dripping in a wide pan over high heat, in two batches so it fries rather than steams, until it is deeply coloured and catching on the base, about 8 minutes.