A serious upgrade to the humble steak pie
Here at Bullshot, we don’t do boring, and the classic steak and ale pie is no exception. We absolutely love transforming oldie-but-goodie recipes with our artisan bone broth and introducing a whole new level of flavour to the food we know and love as well as conjuring up new, magical creations.
As always, Bullshot is our secret ingredient in this recipe, and its infusion of quality, natural ingredients that have been loved over time gives this pub classic a run for its money.
Time-saving tips
If you have extra time to spend in the kitchen, feel free to make your own pastry from scratch – we encourage it! You can even make it up to two days ahead and keep it in the fridge. But we know time is of the essence, so if you want a swift recipe without missing out on marvellous flavour, then shop-bought pastry will suffice (we won’t tell if you don’t!).
Our top tip in this recipe is to make the filling a day or two in advance and keep it chilled in the fridge. Don’t forget, Bullshot does the hard work for you, and letting those flavours infuse overnight will only make them more tremendous. A cold filling will also produce a more magnificent-tasting pie!
Serious Steak and Ale Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Servings: 6-8
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 100g smoked bacon rashers, chopped
- 1kg beef shin, cut into chunks
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp malt/red wine vinegar
- 400ml sweet brown ale
- 500ml Bullshot Beef Bone Broth
- 100ml water
- Fresh thyme, stalks and leaves separated
- 2 bay leaves
For the pastry (if making)
- 700g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 150g lard
- 150g butter
- 2 eggs yolks, beaten
Cooking method
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas 3. In a large casserole dish, heat the oil, add the bacon and fry for 5 minutes until starting to brown. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. To the same pan, add the beef chunks (in batches if needed) and fry for 5-10 minutes until browned, adding more oil as needed. Once ready, remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Again, to the same frying pan, add the onions and carrots and let them sweat on a low heat for roughly 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, tomato purée and vinegar. Then, add the browned beef and bacon back in and give everything a good mix.
3. Mix the Bullshot broth with 100ml of water and pour that into the pan along with a few thyme stalks and the bay leaves. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bring everything to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Cover the dish with a lid and place in the oven for 2 hours until the beef is nice and tender.
4. Once ready, remove from the oven and leave everything to cool a little. Drain half of the braising liquid and leave everything else to cool completely.
5. Make your pastry. Mix the flour, mustard powder, lard and butter with a pinch of salt in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Gradually add up to 250ml of cold water to make your dough. Knead in the thyme leaves, then cover and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. Heat the oven up to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. Butter a 26-28cm wide pie dish generously and dust well with some flour. Cut off a third of the pastry and set aside. Roll out the remaining dough into a thick circle, big enough to line the pie dish with a little overhang, and line the dish. Tip in the beef mixture. Using a pastry brush, give the edges of the pastry an egg wash.
7. Roll out the leftover pastry to another thick circle, big enough to cover the pie, and place it on top. Cut off any excess pastry and, using a fork, crimp the pie top down all the way around. You can use the pastry trimmings to create some decorative shapes and make your pie a little more of a showstopper! Once ready, brush the top of the pie with another egg wash.
8. Pierce an X in the middle of the pie with a knife, place it on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes. Remove the pie, give it another egg wash, season the top with some salt, and bake for another 20-25 minutes until golden. Once ready, remove from the oven and let the pie rest for around 10 minutes before serving.
We can’t get enough of creating our own, delectable food at home – Bullshot is all you need to become a culinary connoisseur! We recommend serving your rich and comforting steak and ale pie with some perfectly fluffy roast spuds or homemade skin-on chunky chips. You’ll probably want extra gravy with that, too, so just warm up some more Bullshot and dig in!