Australian Meat Pie Challenge – recipe

I’m not a big pie/pastry girl – and especially not savory pies – think pasties, chicken pot pie or samosas – but this makes a delicious dinner for the family. Australians are potty for their meat pies – usually eaten with a side of mashed potatoes or fries?!? I have taken the liberty to adapt the classic Australian recipe – most importantly I used bison rather than beef. Given the amount of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and stock used to flavor the filling I would challenge any Aussie Meat Pie aficionado to detect a difference!

Australians are known to slather on even more ketchup with their pie but this recipe really has enough sugar, salt and vinegar baked inside the crust! When Ara took her first bite she said “It tastes like HP!” [HP Sauce from England]. Whatever you do don’t add salt – and you may want to use less and/or a low sodium beef stock, a tad less ketchup and even, dare I say low sodium Worcestershire sauce.

Australian Meat Pie Recipe

Adapted from Australian Food.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
500 g minced bison (or minced beef)
1 cup water, divided
2 teaspoons Au Jus Better than Bouillon or 2 beef stock cubes
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 black pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 puff pastry sheets

What to do

1 Pre-heat oven at 425 F.

2 Heat olive oil in pan over high heat and add onion – when onion starts to brown add meat and cook until all browned.

3 Add 3/4 cup of the water, bouillon cubes, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano, and nutmeg. Stir well to combine all the ingredients and scrape off all the brown bits on the side of the pan.

4 Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5 Blend flour with the remaining 1/4 cup water until it becomes a smooth paste with no lumps. Add to the meat.

6 Remove meat from the heat and let cool. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

7 Line a pie dish with puff pastry and add the cooled filling.

8  Brush edges of pastry with milk and put the pastry top on. Crimp edges with a fork. I added little figures cut out of the left over pastry but next time I wouldn’t do this – the pastry was just too thick and didn’t cook evenly in these places.

9 Trim edges and glaze top with milk. Bake in a very hot oven, 425 F for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 F and bake for 25 more minutes, or until golden brown.

10 Serve with fresh English peas, fries or even mashed potato.