British Pie Week: The best beef pie recipe for meat lovers

There are pies, and then there’s this – the kind of thing to make Desperate Dan weep with joy. A pie with more beef in it than a Westminster lobby, a pie so rich it could bankroll a small nation. If you’ve ever felt a steak and ale lacked a certain heft, or that a shepherd’s was more field mouse than lamb, Turner & George have the answer: their infamous Cow Pie, the heavyweight champion of British Pie Week.

This is a pie with pedigree. Turner & George aren’t just butchers; they’re meat whisperers. Richard H Turner, the man behind Hawksmoor’s legendary steaks, and James George, a butcher with a purist’s love for properly raised, properly aged beef, have built a business on the belief that meat should taste of something. And this pie tastes of everything.

Built on a foundation of oxtail and ox cheek – or chuck steak, if you’re feeling less traditional – it’s slow-cooked to collapse-in-your-mouth tenderness, then loaded into a double-crust fortress of suet and rough puff. It’s the kind of pie that needs its own postcode, a proper belt-loosener, best served with a pint and a lie-down.

If you’re looking for the pie to end all pies, this is it. The recipe follows – just make sure you’ve got an appetite to match.

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Serves: 4

Ingredients:

600g oxtail pieces

400g ox cheek, diced into 3 cms (NB: oxtail can be supplemented with 1kg diced beef if preferred)

400g chuck steak, diced into 3 cms

200g onions, diced into 2cms

200g carrots, diced into 2cms

500ml beef stock

Dripping, for greasing

100g button mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered

Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

15g plain flour

For the suet crust (for the pastry base):

350g self-raising flour

150g shredded vegetable suet

150 ml ice cold water

2g fine sea salt

For the rough puff (for the pastry top – or buy a 500g ready made rolled pack):

300g unsalted butter

325g strong plain flour

150ml ice cold water

5g fine sea salt

A pie chimney

Method:

1. Heat your oven to 160C and place a casserole pot (that comes with a lid) over a medium heat on the hob. Add the dripping and fry the oxtail (if using) and diced meat, then the carrots, onions and mushrooms until browned and season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the beef bones gravy and stir through before popping the lid on the casserole and put it in the oven to braise gently for three hours.

3. To make the suet crust base, put the self-raising flour, suet and a couple of pinches of salt into a bowl and use your fingers to mix together. Once the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add roughly 150ml of ice cold water to bring it together until you have a soft dough. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge.

4. To make the rough puff top, put the plain flour and salt into a bowl and dice the butter. Rub together to mix but there should still be small lumps of butter. Pour in the cold water and mix to combine to a firm dough, do not over mix. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge. – can use bought pastry.

5. Remove the cooked pie filling from the oven after three hours and drain off 200ml of the gravy and put to one side. Allow the remaining cooked mixture to cool completely and then pick out the oxtail, pulling the meat off the bones to add back to the mix – not necessary if using diced beef.

6. Turn out the puff pastry onto a floured board and roll out into a square, there should be small streaks of butter running through the pastry, this is needed. Fold the right hand third half way into the middle and repeat with the remaining left hand side, roll out again and repeat the folding process. Cover with cling film and return to the fridge for half an hour – not needed if using ready made.

7. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out the suet crust dough so it’s about 1 cm thick. Line your pie dish, push and pat it in, letting a couple of centimetres hang over the edge. Place a pie ‘chimney’ into the centre of the pastry.

8. Press the now cool pie mixture into the lined pie dishes around the pie chimney. Roll out the rough puff pastry until about 1 cm thick and cut in half to make two lids. Egg wash the suet crust overhang and place one layer of puff pastry on top of the filling making a small hole to let the pie chimney through one.

9. Egg wash the pie top and trim the edges with a small knife to seal and cook for one hour at 180C.

10. When ready, carefully pull out the pie and allow it to sit for ten minutes before serving with some creamy mash, greens and the remaining gravy.