Scotch Pies
Meat pies are popular in Australia and Great Britain. Here – not so much. I have no idea why because they are tasty and filling.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 5 tablespoons beef stock or gravy – see note
- salt and pepper – to taste
- cook’s string
Hot Water Crust Pastry
- 3/4 cup water
- 5 oz lard – or shortening
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 oz all-purpose flour
- egg yolk
Instructions
Filling
- Preheat the oven to 400 ºF.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Cut for strips of parchment about 2 inches wide by 12″ long. These will be wrapped around the pies. While they cook. Another option is to use an ovenproof bowl like a french onion soup bowl to bake the pies.
- In a medium bowl, mix the ground lamb, nutmeg, and gravy or stock together. Season with salt and pepper if to your taste. Mix thoroughly.
- Split the meat mixture into 4 balls and set them aside in a refrigerator.
Pastry
- in a large saucepan, combine the water, lard or shortening, and salt. Heat until it just starts to boil.
- Put the flour in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the hot liquid into the bowl and mix it together with a spoon.
- When the dough is cool enough to handle, turn it out onto a floured surface and kneed until smooth.
- Take about 1/4 of the pastry and set it aside, this will be used for the pie lids. Split the remaining pastry into 4 balls and roll them out into 7 inch circles about 1/4 inch thick.
- Split the portion set aside for the lids into 4 balls and roll them out into 4 inch circles, about 1/4 inch thick.
- To make the pies, drop a ball of the meat mixture into the center of the 7″ circles. Bring the sides up around the ball so they are 2″ high.
- Press the lids on the top of the filling and seal the edges. It may help to moisten the edges of the pie first. Crimp the edges nice and tight.
- Wrap parchment paper around each pie and tie with cooking string. This has proven to be a pain for me, so I just drop them into oven proof bowls to bake.
- Put the pies on a baking tray and brush them with beaten egg yolk. Then poke a little hole for a steam vent in the top of each pie.
- Bake at 400 ºF for about 40 minutes, until golden brown.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes and serve.
Notes
I hardly ever have beef stock or gravy around so I use my homemade chicken broth.
If you like these, you may like Maw Broon’s Cookbook for a more traditional look at Scottish food (injected with a little Scottish humor).