United Nations of Beer

Steak and Ale Pie recipe

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(UNOB HQ)

Steak and Ale Pie recipe

This steak and ale pie recipe is traditional English fare. You know how the Brits like their beer... WARM! Seriously though, the ale and steak combine to make a wonderful wintry dish that will stick to the skinniest ribs.

Preparation time:
20 minutes

Cooking time
2 hrs

Ingredients
700 g braising steak
One large onion
Flour
Salt and pepper
Dried mixed herbs (you could use a combination of fresh herbs)
150g mushrooms
One beaten egg
125ml stock (beef or any kind)
Enough puff pastry to make a pie crust (you can make your own, but it's fiddly work... best to buy premade)
125ml QUALITY beer*

* This is a steak and ALE pie recipe, not a steak and fizzy water recipe! Don't use lager or a cheap can of crap. Get a nice bottle of brown ale or similar.

Directions

Chop onion. Slice mushrooms. (Note: many people wash mushrooms; some people even PEEL them! This loses a lot of the flavour.

You can use any kind of mushrooms, or even a mixture, but do your taste buds a favour. Promise me that during this steak and ale pie recipe you'll refrain from washing them before you slice them.)

Make a mixture of mushrooms, onion and herbs in a bowl.

Mix salt and pepper into a small pile of flour. Now roll the chunks of steak in the flour until they're coated. Make alternate layers of steak and the onions, mushrooms and herbs mix in a large pie dish.


Gently pour in the ale, then add the beef stock.

Roll the pastry on a pre-floured surface, ensuring that you make the crust big enough to overlap the sides of the pie dish by about an inch all round.

Moisten the top rim of the pie dish with a little water. Drop on the crust, then make a small incision in a cross shape with a knife. Tuck in the pastry so you're left with a small hole in the centre. Where the pastry overlaps the pie dish, trim off the excess. Keep the offcuts to one side.

Take the beaten egg and brush the pie crust with it. If you're feeling creative when attempting this steak and ale pie recipe, use the offcuts of pastry crust to make shapes to decorate the pie top (a pint glass shape would be cool). Brush these back and front with egg and attach to the top of the pie.

Bake for 30mins in the middle of the oven. Lower the oven to 180°C (Gas #4) and bake for 90mins more.

Once the pastry is a deep golden brown, wet some greaseproof paper, folded double and cover the top of the pie with the wet side upwards, to prevent the crust from burning.

Serve with more of the ale you used in the recipe and a roaring open fire.