oh my that's good
So we saw Sweeny Todd on National Jews and Pagans Go to the Movies Day, and while the musical was only so-so, it did give me a serious bit of hunger for a good meat pie. (No cat, please.) So I found this recipe for Australian Meat Pie, checked with some Aussies I know who confirmed that it was a reasonable basic recipe, and made it up! It looked like this after I took it out of the oven:
mmmmmmm, tasty
As always, I made a few changes to taste. My larger-scale mods included one medium onion rather than two small; I added one large potato, diced; and I used 1.5 lbs beef instead of 2. The recipe doesn't specify any particular kind of stock, so I used the vegetable soup stock, of the "Better than Bouillon" brand. (This stock also makes a good udon broth base, by the way. And if there are any vegans out there, it is apparently vegan-compatible.) For crust, I used the basic Krusteaz mix; they're a regional brand that I like quite a bit. I don't know how available it is elsewhere, but any light, flaky crust mix should do well.
I also added seasonings to taste, as I'm told is normal. In my case, these were: a splash of red pepper, a little mirin, a little sake, a dollop of seasoned rice vinegar, a tiny dollop of soy sauce (for no real reason, honestly), six or eight shakes of chili oil, a decent bit of savoury, a little rosemary. I also like quite a bit of pepper, and some salt, which is unusual - I don't tend to salt things very much, but it seemed appropriate here.
Result: surprisingly good. Much better than I'd expected, even after finishing the stovetop portion of the cooking. Clearly, the baking is a bigger factor than I had expected, as the meat filling tasted good going into the oven, but noticeably better after. Everyone came back for seconds (including me) and the second serving did not have that "oh it's not as good the second time now that I'm not as hungry" feeling - it was still surprisingly good.
So! Meat pies are a win. They're a bit of work, but worth it.
mmmmmmm, tasty
As always, I made a few changes to taste. My larger-scale mods included one medium onion rather than two small; I added one large potato, diced; and I used 1.5 lbs beef instead of 2. The recipe doesn't specify any particular kind of stock, so I used the vegetable soup stock, of the "Better than Bouillon" brand. (This stock also makes a good udon broth base, by the way. And if there are any vegans out there, it is apparently vegan-compatible.) For crust, I used the basic Krusteaz mix; they're a regional brand that I like quite a bit. I don't know how available it is elsewhere, but any light, flaky crust mix should do well.
I also added seasonings to taste, as I'm told is normal. In my case, these were: a splash of red pepper, a little mirin, a little sake, a dollop of seasoned rice vinegar, a tiny dollop of soy sauce (for no real reason, honestly), six or eight shakes of chili oil, a decent bit of savoury, a little rosemary. I also like quite a bit of pepper, and some salt, which is unusual - I don't tend to salt things very much, but it seemed appropriate here.
Result: surprisingly good. Much better than I'd expected, even after finishing the stovetop portion of the cooking. Clearly, the baking is a bigger factor than I had expected, as the meat filling tasted good going into the oven, but noticeably better after. Everyone came back for seconds (including me) and the second serving did not have that "oh it's not as good the second time now that I'm not as hungry" feeling - it was still surprisingly good.
So! Meat pies are a win. They're a bit of work, but worth it.