Dr. Jim's Cookbook Experiments, episode 2: West Country Pie
Adge Cutler, the founder of The Wurzels, would be about to turn 90 if he'd still been alive today. But he isn't - and though it's perfectly possible he'd have died anyway by now, as not everyone gets to reach such an age - our lifespans missed each other by just over five years. Adge was only 43 when he crashed his MGB on his way home from a gig in May 1974, and though it sent shockwaves through the world of Scrumpy 'n' Western, the rest of The Wurzels picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and went on to release all their big hits (for various parameters of "hit"). You know the ones I mean - Combine Harvester, I Am A Cider Drinker, etc. But they never forgot their old bandmate, and featured a suitable tribute on one of their later albums.
And that brings us onto today's fabulous meal for three (well, three days' worth for me, anyway) from Jane Todd's Mighty Mince Cookbook, from 1980. Presenting... West Country Pie!
You will need:
- 450 g / 1 lb minced beef (even the cheap, fatty stuff will do)
- one "medium" potato, whatever that means - I used a small baking potato that would probably have been too small , realistically, for baking
- two carrots
- one onion (red, as in previous recipes, though the colour isn't specified)
- 100 g / 4 oz mushrooms
- "some" salt and pepper
- 150 ml / ¼ pint dry cider
- 225 g / 9 oz puff pastry (I used the ready-rolled stuff just so I could try this out - I'll make my own next time)
- beaten egg to glaze
Chop all the vegetables and mushrooms into suitably-sized pieces. Mix together the beef, potato, carrots, onion and mushrooms. Season well and place the mixture in a 1 litre / 1½ pint pie dish with a pie funnel placed at the centre. Pour in the cider. (Drink the rest, obviously.)
You will notice that the mince is raw - yes, this is correct. And I've kept the onion as large rings so I can pull it out easily. Returning to the recipe...
Roll out the pastry and cut away a 2.5 cm / 1" strip. Dampen the rim of the pie dish, place on the strip of pastry and brush with water. Cover with the pastry lid and flake and flute the edges. Brush with beaten egg and make a hole in the centre for the steam to escape. Decorate the top with leaves made from the pastry trimmings. Brush the leaves with egg.
There's a reason I mentioned Adge Cutler at the top of this post. I thought this was something he'd approve of, in that it has cider in it - and I had a lot of pastry left over to make the letters with. And there was enough to fry and eat for a small snack, on top of that. Also, there's no need to use an egg to glaze the pastry with - some oil will do just fine. Anyway, on with the show...
Bake in a hot oven (200°C, 425°F, Gas Mark 7) for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature (180°C, 350°F, Gas Mark 4) and bake for a further 35-40 minutes, covering the pastry with a piece of foil if it becomes too brown.
The result:
Ooooooaaaaaarrr! Proper job! (As they say in Adge's part of the country.)
The verdict:
You'll notice that it looks a bit "wet". I made it in a Pyrex casserole dish, seeing as that's what I had to hand, and I could see all the juices boiling away happily to themselves. Essentially, the meat, vegetables and mushrooms (the best of three kingdoms...) all cook in the cider - though, it would probably thicken into a cider-flavoured sauce of some kind if there was a tablespoon or two of flour added to the mix. If it was also made with swede, then it would become ever closer to being a pie with Cornish pasty filling - maybe that was the intention?
Of course, I drank the rest of the cider while the pie was baking, so I had to open another one to serve with the pie. It's a hard life, I know. So, provided I've got a decent stash of cider to hand, this is another one I know I'll make again some day.
And that brings us onto today's fabulous meal for three (well, three days' worth for me, anyway) from Jane Todd's Mighty Mince Cookbook, from 1980. Presenting... West Country Pie!
You will need:
- 450 g / 1 lb minced beef (even the cheap, fatty stuff will do)
- one "medium" potato, whatever that means - I used a small baking potato that would probably have been too small , realistically, for baking
- two carrots
- one onion (red, as in previous recipes, though the colour isn't specified)
- 100 g / 4 oz mushrooms
- "some" salt and pepper
- 150 ml / ¼ pint dry cider
- 225 g / 9 oz puff pastry (I used the ready-rolled stuff just so I could try this out - I'll make my own next time)
- beaten egg to glaze
Chop all the vegetables and mushrooms into suitably-sized pieces. Mix together the beef, potato, carrots, onion and mushrooms. Season well and place the mixture in a 1 litre / 1½ pint pie dish with a pie funnel placed at the centre. Pour in the cider. (Drink the rest, obviously.)
You will notice that the mince is raw - yes, this is correct. And I've kept the onion as large rings so I can pull it out easily. Returning to the recipe...
Roll out the pastry and cut away a 2.5 cm / 1" strip. Dampen the rim of the pie dish, place on the strip of pastry and brush with water. Cover with the pastry lid and flake and flute the edges. Brush with beaten egg and make a hole in the centre for the steam to escape. Decorate the top with leaves made from the pastry trimmings. Brush the leaves with egg.
There's a reason I mentioned Adge Cutler at the top of this post. I thought this was something he'd approve of, in that it has cider in it - and I had a lot of pastry left over to make the letters with. And there was enough to fry and eat for a small snack, on top of that. Also, there's no need to use an egg to glaze the pastry with - some oil will do just fine. Anyway, on with the show...
Bake in a hot oven (200°C, 425°F, Gas Mark 7) for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature (180°C, 350°F, Gas Mark 4) and bake for a further 35-40 minutes, covering the pastry with a piece of foil if it becomes too brown.
The result:
Ooooooaaaaaarrr! Proper job! (As they say in Adge's part of the country.)
The verdict:
You'll notice that it looks a bit "wet". I made it in a Pyrex casserole dish, seeing as that's what I had to hand, and I could see all the juices boiling away happily to themselves. Essentially, the meat, vegetables and mushrooms (the best of three kingdoms...) all cook in the cider - though, it would probably thicken into a cider-flavoured sauce of some kind if there was a tablespoon or two of flour added to the mix. If it was also made with swede, then it would become ever closer to being a pie with Cornish pasty filling - maybe that was the intention?
Of course, I drank the rest of the cider while the pie was baking, so I had to open another one to serve with the pie. It's a hard life, I know. So, provided I've got a decent stash of cider to hand, this is another one I know I'll make again some day.