Slow-cooked steak and ale pie with shortcrust lid

Ingredients

Filling

• 1.2 kg beef shin and skirt, diced (mix of both)
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500 ml dark ale (porter, stout, or 6%+ amber)
• 500 ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Pastry lid

• 300 g plain flour
• 150 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 tsp salt
• 4-5 tbsp ice-cold water

Finish

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Beef. Toss in seasoned flour. Heat oil in a heavy casserole. Brown the beef in batches. Set aside.
2. Aromatics. In the same pan, soften onions, carrots, celery 10 minutes. Add garlic 1 minute.
3. Deglaze. Pour in ale. Scrape the bottom. Bubble down by a third.
4. Braise. Return beef. Add stock, tomato purée, mustard, bay, Worcestershire. Cover. Oven at 150°C for 3 hours.
5. Cool. Lift beef out. Strain the sauce. Skim fat. Reduce if needed until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Combine. Cool completely (overnight is ideal).
6. Pastry. Rub butter into flour and salt. Add water. Bring together. Rest 30 minutes.
7. Assemble. Fill a pie dish with the cold filling. Roll pastry 5 mm thick. Drape over. Trim, crimp. Cut a steam hole.
8. Bake. 200°C for 35-40 minutes until pastry is deep golden. Rest 10 minutes.

Tips

• Low and slow braise. 3 hours minimum. Anything less and the beef chews like rubber.
• Use a proper dark ale — porter, stout, or 6% amber. Weak lager = thin gravy.
• Cool the filling completely before lidding. Hot filling = soggy bottom + collapsed pastry.