Beef and Guinness Pie brings together two of Ireland's most famous products, beef and Guinness in a hale and hearty pie. The long-slow cooking of the filling creates not just perfectly tender beef, it also allows the flavor of the Guinness to permeate the meat and the vegetables and produce a thick, luscious sauce.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- FOR THE PASTRY
- 7 oz/200g all purpose/plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 4 oz/ 110g butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and lard
- 2-3 tbsp cold water
- 1 egg, beaten for glaze
- FOR THE FILLING
- 1oz/25g all purpose/plain flour
- 1 ¾lb/900g chuck steak cut into 1"/2.5cm cubes
- ¾z/ 20g butter
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 2 carrots chopped in to 1"/2.5cm cubes
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp tomato puree
- 17 fl/oz/500 ml Guinness or stout
- 1 ½ pints/300ml hot beef stock
- 2 tsp sugar
- Salt and ground pepper
Preparation:
Make the pastry following these instructions
- Place the flour in a large bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper, add the cubes of meat and toss well in the flour until evenly coated.
- Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish until the butter has melted. Add the meat to the fat in small batches and brown quickly all over for just a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the onions and carrots to the pan and fry gently for about 2 minutes then return the meat to the pan with the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, ale stock and sugar. Grind in plenty of black pepper and a little salt, stir well and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook slowly for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened and is glossy. Remove from the heat, place into a 2½ pint/1.5 liter deep pie dish and leave to cool completely.
- Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.
- Roll out the pastry to 1/8"/3mm. Cut a ¾"/2cm strip from the rolled-out pastry. Brush the rim of the pie dish with water and place the pastry strip around the rim, pressing it down. Cut out the remaining pastry about 1"/2.5cm larger than the dish. Sit a pie funnel in the center of the filling; it will support the pastry and stop it from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.
- Place the pastry lid over the top and press down to the edge and seal. trim off any excess pastry an crimp the edges with a fork or between your thumb and forefinger. British the top with beaten egg and make a hole in the center to reveal the pie funnel. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.
