Beef and Beer Pie
Adapted from Angela Boggiano's book "Pie"
Pie Dough
10 oz of your favorite shortcrust recipe
Egg yolk + water for egg wash
Filling
1/4 cup flour
2 lbs chuck steak, cut into 3/4" cubes
2 tablespoons butter
Canola oil for searing the meat
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cubed
Some dried or fresh rosemary, chopped (optional)
Some dried or fresh thyme, chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
11 oz Guinness beer + 5 oz water
1-1/4 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base (NOTE: Use 1-1/4 cup chicken broth or beef broth instead; the chicken base is too salty)
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt, as needed
Ground black pepper, as needed
Place the flour in a large bowl and season it with pepper and salt. Toss the cubes of meat in the flour mixture.
Sear the meat in a large saucepan until brown. Sear the meat in small batches if necessary.
In a large pot melt the butter and saute the onions and carrots. Add some dried or fresh, chopped rosemary and thyme if desired. Season with salt and pepper. Add the seared meat to the pot.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, Guinness, water, chicken base, and sugar to the pot. Add more pepper and few pinches of salt. Stir until you think the chicken base has dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer the filling, and cover the pot with a lid.
Cook the mixture for about two hours, or until the meat is very tender. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish to cool. When mixture is cool enough place it in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Use a 9" pie dish for the pie.
Roll out the pie dough to your desired thickness. Cut some strips approximately 3/4" wide and place them around the rim of the pie dish. Use water if needed to make the dough stick. The pie dough for the lid of the pie should be about 1" larger than the circumference of your pie dish.
Place a pie funnel in the center of the pie dish. Add the chilled pie filling. Cut a slit or a small "X" in the center of your pie dough. Place the pie dough over the pie funnel and crimp the edges with your thumb and forefinger to seal the pie.
Brush egg wash over the crust. Place the pie dish on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes. Check to see if the crust is golden; if not then bake until the crust is done. Reduce heat if necessary to prevent the crust from burning.
Serve with gold or red mashed potatoes and broiled broccoli.
Yields approximately 4 to 5 servings.
Notes
Angela Boggiano's recipe calls for 2 cups of beer and she uses beef stock. I don't drink beer, so once I open a bottle and pour its contents into a measuring up I just add water until I have two cups. We always have Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base in the refrigerator -- it is just easier to use that in the pie filling rather than going out to buy beef stock to use specifically for this recipe. (UPDATE: Use chicken broth or beef broth instead of the chicken base. The chicken base is too salty and the saltiness is difficult to control as your liquid evaporates during cooking.)
The pie funnel is necessary to prevent the crust from sinking into the pie filling (which is very wet) and to allow the excess liquid in the pie filling to escape as steam through the pie funnel. I think an exception to this is when I made a very small pie in a ramekin and used a lattice crust.
I think I usually spend 45 minutes or more baking the pie until the crust is done.
This recipe is fairly simple and doesn't require too many ingredients for the filling that you may not already have in your kitchen. However the filling does take maybe at least three hours of work from start to finish just to cook. And then after that you need to cool the mixture and refrigerate it overnight! I also really hate making and rolling out pie dough, which is why I do not make this pie very often. I feel like I spend an enormous amount of time making it, and when I serve it there is really only enough pie for four or five people.
The pie is a little awkward to eat because it only has a top crust. The filling spills out all over the plate you're eating off of and then you have a triangle of crust that you can break off and try to eat with the filling. Serving this pie with mashed potatoes is important because you need to use the mashed potatoes to help sop up the filling. Also there is no way that this pie can stand on its own as a meal unless you were only going to share the entire pie with one other person.
The pie is really good and there usually isn't any pie left over after I serve it. Sometimes I feel disappointed that no one can have a second slice because the pie yields so few servings.
