Steak & Ale Pie

Name: Steak & Ale Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 900g braising steak, cut into 4cm chunks; 2 tbsp seasoned flour; 2 onions, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 250g chestnut mushrooms, halved; 500ml dark ale (a bitter or porter); 250ml beef stock; 1 tbsp tomato purée; 1 tsp English mustard; 1 bay leaf; 320g sheet all-butter shortcrust pastry; 1 egg, beaten

Slow-braised beef in a dark ale gravy beneath a buttery shortcrust lid — Britain’s most-ordered pub pie and the one every gastropub is judged by.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 150 min
Total: 180 min
Yield: Serves 4–6
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: Victorian

Ingredients

900g braising steak, cut into 4cm chunks
2 tbsp seasoned flour
2 onions, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
500ml dark ale (a bitter or porter)
250ml beef stock
1 tbsp tomato purée; 1 tsp English mustard; 1 bay leaf
320g sheet all-butter shortcrust pastry; 1 egg, beaten

Method

Oven180°C350°FFan 160°CGas 4

Toss the beef in seasoned flour and brown in batches in hot dripping. Transfer to a casserole.
Soften the onions, carrots and mushrooms in the same pan for 8 minutes; add the tomato purée and mustard.
Pour in the ale, scraping up the browned bits, then the stock and bay. Return the beef.
Cover and braise at 160°C / 320°F (fan 140°C, gas 3) for 2 hours until the beef surrenders. Cool — a cold filling makes a crisper pie.
Tip the filling into a pie dish. Lay on the pastry, trim, crimp, cut a steam hole and glaze with egg.
Bake at 200°C / 400°F (fan 180°C, gas 6) for 30–35 minutes until the crust is deep gold. Rest 10 minutes before serving with mash and greens.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.