Beef bourguignon pie

Why has no-one had the genius idea of putting beef bourguignon into a pie before? Here's the recipe courtesy of the brilliant Ginger Pig Meat Book which I reviewed here.

We started making meat pies around eight years ago as we had a lot of offcuts of meat that was too superior to make into everyday mince. After getting a classic recipe from old farm cookery books, I adapted it to make it more interesting.

Makes 1 large pie (24 x 12cm/9 1/2 x 4 1/2in) or 4 small (12 x 6cm/4 1/2 x 2 1/2in) pies
Takes 2 hours, plus overnight chilling

For the filling
1.3kg (3lb) chuck steak, cut into 2cm (3/4in) cubes
350g (12oz) cooked dry-cured bacon, diced
200g (7oz) button mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp soy sauce, preferably Kikkoman
350ml (12fl oz) red wine
2 tbsp cornflour
leaves from 4 sprigs of flat leaf parsley, chopped

For the suet pastry
700g (1lb 9oz) plain flour
350g (12oz) suet
tsp salt

For assembly
25g (1oz) lard, melted
1 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place the beef and bacon in a roasting tin and brown in the oven for 15 minutes, then stir and cook for 15 minutes more. Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic, soy sauce and wine. Cover with baking parchment, pushing it down over the ingredients, seal with foil, and cook for 1 hours.

2 Drain off all the liquid into a saucepan. Blend the cornflour with a little water and
mix into the cooking juices, then place on the heat and stir until boiling and thickened. Return the liquid to the meat, add the parsley, mix, and leave to cool completely.

3 Now place the flour and suet in a food processor and blitz until very well blended.
Transfer to a mixing bowl, add 300ml ( half pint) water and mix until smooth. If making individual pies, divide the dough into eight balls, four weighing 185g (6.5oz) and four weighing 115g (4oz). If making one large pie, divide it into two balls, one 740g (1lb 10oz) and the other 460g (1lb).

4 Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5. Brush the inside of the tin or tins
thoroughly with lard, then dust lightly with flour. Roll out the larger pastry balls and use
to line the tin or tins. Divide the filling between them. Brush the pastry edges generously with egg, roll out the smaller pastry balls and place on top, pushing the edges together. Trim off the excess with a knife and crimp around the edge. Brush with egg, and decorate with pastry trimmings. Cook for 50 minutes. Leave to cool for five minutes, then turn out of the tins and enjoy hot or cold.

Suggested wine match: burgundy is the classic French match for a Bourguignon but given the pie treatment I go for a more rustic and substantial Rhne red or southern French red.

From Ginger Pig Meat Book by Tim Wilson and Fran Warde, £25 Mitchell Beazley

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