Steak and Mushroom Pie

A traditional British pie (but we’ll skip the kidneys, thank you very much.)
By Erin Henderson
When I get an idea in my head, I’m like a terrier with a bone. I just can’t let it go, until I scratch the itch.
And this week, the itch was steak and mushroom pie. Maybe it’s been prompted by the frosty snap of winter, perhaps a desire for comfort and tradition in turbulent times, but regardless of how or why the muse struck, struck she did, and I wouldn’t get my thoughts back to myself until I went to the kitchen to take on this cozy weekend project.
The recipe below includes a homemade suet crust – it’s not at all difficult, but of course, requires a bit of planning as suet is no longer readily available at any grocery store. Most quality butchers have it, and if not, there’s always online.
Of course, if you don’t want to faff about (I make one pie and the British slang starts…) with making crust, you can simply ladle the stew into a greased pie plate and top it with store bought puff pastry. No shame in that game. You could also just eat the stew, and skip the carbs, but then, why would you be reading this?
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I also am a convert to a fairly disciplined method of braising. A few unfortunately encouters with dry meat sent me in search of the science to succulent stews, and I found it primarily in noted food scientist Harold McGee's indispensible book, On Food and Cooking, along with ideas from Molly Stevens and Kenji Lopez Alt.
It may look dubious to you, but trust me (and Harold, and Molly, and Kenji) it's the way to do it.
Steak and Mushroom Pie
I like to double up the meat filling, as I do with most sauces and stews, so I can freeze it for later to give future Erin a break.
To keep your meat filling soft and succulent, it's important to warm up the stew slowly. It seems counter intuitive, but trust the process. It's not a typo to add the beef stock off the heat, nor is it a mistake to add the stew to a cold oven. The slow increase of heat will work wonders in relaxing and tenderizing the beef.
For the crust, I do get a bit fiddley, but so far it’s the method that works best for me to get a properly cooked and crispy bottom.
I blind bake it first, and when I put on the pastry top, I gently pry the top edges of the bottom pie crust away from the pan so I can tuck in the top crust. As I said, it’s a bit of a process, and definitely one that requires patience, but I haven’t yet experienced a better option to get the crispy, flakey results I want.
There are rumours that you can achieve a crispy bottom crust of putting a metal pie plate (the best conductor of heat), on a hot pizza steel or stone in the oven, but I haven't tried that. If I do, I will, of course, report back.
Makes: About 1 ½ litres of meat filling
Chef level: moderate
Special Equipment: 8 inch pie plate
Ingredients:
- 4-5 slices smoky bacon
- 1 ½ lbs stewing beef
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large carrot, scrubbed and cut into large chunks
- 3 celery ribs, scrubbed and cut into large chunks
- 1 onion, cut in quarters
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 250 ml red wine (such as a Côtes du Rhône)
- 500 ml beef stock
- About 10 bushy sprigs fresh thyme
- 3-4 fresh bay leaves
- 4-5 sprigs fresh parsley
- 1 large leek, white and light green parts, thoroughly washed and sliced
- 1 lb cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 portion suet pie crust
How to Make It:
For the Filling:
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the bacon and cook until well done but not crispy. Remove the bacon from the pot and set aside on paper towels to drain.
- Dry the beef well and season with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the beef cubes to the hot bacon fat, searing quickly, only about one minute per side to get a good crust on the outside, but the inside stays relatively cool (you may need to increase the heat to get the pot hot enough to sear this quickly.)
- Remove the beef once it’s done and set on a rimmed plate.
- Once all the beef has been cooked, lower the heat if necessary to medium/med-low, and add the carrot, celery, and onion to the hot fat (add more fat if needed) and stir to coat. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Once the vegetables have softend slightly, maybe 4-5 minutes, sprinkle with flour and stir to cook for a minute or two until the bright white of the flour has turned pale yellow.
- Pour in the wine, scraping up the stuck-on stuff from the bottom of the pot.
- Remove the pot from the heat.
- Pour in the beef stock.
- Tie together the thyme, parsley, and bay leaves with kitchen twine and throw it into the pot (I often wrap the herbs in the cleaned outer layer of a leek, but if that seems a bridge too far, just throw in the bundle without the leek wrapping.)
- Place a piece of parchment paper directly on top of the stew (you could make a cartouche, but my geometry stinks so I just crinkle it into a ball and then unfold it over the braise.)
- Cover the pot and place in a cold oven.
- Set the oven to 200°F and allow the stew to gently come up to 180°F, about 1 hour.
- Raise the heat to 300°F and cook for another 2 hours or so, checking every 45 minutes for fork-tender meat.
- While the meat is braising, add some oil or bacon fat to a frying pan set over medium heat and add the mushrooms seasoning lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms are fairly soft and most of the liquid has evaporated, then add the leeks, and cook another few minutes until the leeks soften. Set the cooked mushroom and leek mixture aside until needed.
- Once the meat is fork-tender, maybe 3 hours in total, remove the pot from the oven, and allow to cool until safe enough to handle. Discard the herb bundle, onion, celery, and carrot, and scoop out the beef. Cut or shred the beef into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
- While you’re doing this, if the sauce seems very liquidy, boil on the stove top to reduce it to a thicker gravy, as you don’t want a pie filling that’s too liquidy. Aim for roughly 1 cup of thicker sauce.
- Return the beef to the gravy in the pot and add the mushrooms, leeks, and Worcestershire sauce stirring to combine.
- The meat filling can be made up to two days in advance and can be kept in the fridge. You can freeze the leftovers for up to 3 months.
For the Crust and Assembly
- Set the oven to 375°F
- Cut off a third of your suet dough and roll out on a lightly floured work surface to about half a centimeter thick, and 9-10 inches in diameter.
- Drape the dough over an 8 inch pie plate, leaving about an inch of overhang. Prick the dough on the bottom and sides with a fork to allow steam to escape and stop the dough from puffing up.
- Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
- Place the pie plate on a baking tray and place in the hot oven for about 30 minutes until just turning slightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool. Remove the parchment paper and weights, saving for the next use, cut away any overhang of dough, gently loosening the top from the side of the pie plate, without break the sides of the dough. Fill with the room-temperature meat filling.
- Roll out a second bit of suet pastry for the lid and drape over the filling, tucking the edges of the raw dough behind the bottom crust, like making a bed. Using a fork, crimp down the edges.
- Cut an X into the top of the crust and brush liberally with the beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit of salt.
- Increase the heat on the oven to 425°F and place the pie on the baking tray back in the oven to bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown on top.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Wine Pairing:
With the bacon, beef and mushrooms, I think this pie is a natural with Pinot Noir, a light-medium bodied red wine with bright notes of cran-cherry and earthy forest flavours. The wine's moderate tannin works well with the stewed beef filled, and the snappy acidity brightens the dish.