If anyone asks me what my favourite foodstuff is, I will say … a pie. When I was very young, every weekend, my father would serve me a pie and a pint of half stout and milk, and I would sit underneath a grapevine and have my lunch. In my teens, living alone, I once received a phone call on the landline (as we had in those days), I was about to tuck into a pie and was so bothered by being interrupted that I picked up the phone and shouted, go away, I am eating pie, and I slammed the phone down. A few weeks later, I got a call from my father, he said he had tried to call but someone shouted at him, go away, I am eating a pie.
I adore pies, from the wonderful Tasmanian scallop pie to a hearty beef pie, fish pie, chicken pie. Love a pie. Weirdly, I have never properly made a pie; even though I love to cook. I did try to replicate a scallop pie many years ago but made a proper mess of it. I suppose this comes from not wanting to make myself a bad pie. In Tasmania, pies are eaten from the hand, no knives and forks, and with a good dollop of red sauce to complete the experience.
Well, tonight I ventured into foreign, culinary, cooking culture and properly baked myself a pie. My very first homemade pie. A steak and kidney pie, no less, with peas and all. I can say that on my first attempt I think I got pretty close to what I like in a pie. Crispy pastry and a hearty filling. Here is the evidence of my first pie making attempt.
Diolch, it did take me three days to make . Fatigue levels prevented it from being done all in one day, so I had to break up the steps over three days. It was worth it and I have put the other half in the freezer to be eaten another time. I didn’t chop up the kidneys, just put them in whole which was due to my condition being poorly on the first day, so I just chucked everything in as was, and added dried Porcini I had picked years ago to add extra depth at the end. So it was more like a medieval pie, but it did taste great, so I am pleased about that and pleased that it didn’t have a soggy bottom as I blind baked the pastry before adding the filler.
I am picky about pastry, don’t fancy short crust pastry, prefer pastry to be light, fluffy and flaky. People think I am mad when I tell them I don’t like pizza. I’m not keen on doughy or heavy breaded foodstuff. For my palate, pastry needs to almost dissolve with the filling. The filling for this pie was primarily steak and kidney, but I added peas and Porcini, as I think these ingredients work well in a pie. As much as I like pies, I have rarely tasted a well made vegetable pie.
That’s some whollup of a pie!!! Well done you!!! Back in the day I was taught pastry making at school “Domestic Science” it was called, a suitable subject for us convent schoolgirls, makes me sound ancient but twas only the 70s….do they still have it in the curriculum?...hence I am a dab hand at shortcrust, flaky and ruff puff ( sounds rude eh) alas, I fear the calories but as you, can cut it up and freeze which I do with quiche if I buy one as it’s more economical to buy the family size rather than individual, you might have a go with that too Rups, seeing as it’s summer, put whatchu like in da mix ! I recall I used to do a scrummy mince n onion plate pie….you shd also try some sweets….apple and blackberry…..oophs, looks like you’ve set me off the noo !!! LOL
@Rups this is an excellent effort and shows dedication and talent, @Bobbi this was an excellent summation of pies and to a degree pasties as well as bread all were vessels to hold food and negated the need for a plate.
I trained as a chef and one of my mentors was an amazing pastry chef who picked me to mentor- this is not a joy van still on my good days knock out a good pastry. Shamefully don’t feel the inclination in fact about 5 years or so . Was bored at work and turned out with an assistant some chocolate eclairs , choux buns and profiteroles 2.5 hours of toil and 3 minutes and they were gone. I didn’t have one as seen enough over the years.
I have been inspired and once the heatwave passes who knows. My old dad used to visit me at work back in the day just to see if I had baked, may treat him.
@Rups , my friends’ French father-in-law always said “the best meals are the ones you put heart and soul into”. In my opinion, he’s not wrong. I’ve learned lots of extra cooking tips off him (and by his missus) over the years. Shame they don’t live in the UK anymore.
It’s a shame online forums can’t function as food exchanges, my mouth/tummy now yearning for pies and profiteroles! Just as an aside, has anyone else noticed the price of Mackerel these days….gawd…used to enjoy a wee smoked fillet or two…last time I looked it was £5.50 for two skinny pieces in Tesco
I only have a CoOp and there is something fishy about their tinned mackerel and sardine prices, so much so that I had to order Moroccan sardines from Amazon because they were considerably cheaper. I too like fresh, and smoked mackerel fillets but the fresh fish section of the CoOp is cruelly expensive and I have to walk past it most times to see if they’ve dropped anything in the clearance section. I will occasionally buy some fresh salmon for sushi, but even then go for the smallest and least expensive cuts.
. Fatigue levels prevented it from being done all in one day, so I had to break up the steps over three days. It was worth it and I have put the other half in the freezer to be eaten another time. I didn’t chop up the kidneys, just put them in whole which was due to my condition being poorly on the first day, so I just chucked everything in as was, and added dried Porcini I had picked years ago to add extra depth at the end. So it was more like a medieval pie, but it did taste great, so I am pleased about that and pleased that it didn’t have a soggy bottom as I blind baked the pastry before adding the filler.
) .