Family Meat Pie

by | Jul 20, 2015 | Mains, Pastry, Recipe | 39 comments

It’s hard to identify what might be Australia’s national dish these days as we live in such a multicultural nation but growing up in Australia there was nothing more Aussie or traditional than a meat pie (or a ‘dog’s eye’ as it’s also known).  One of my most favourite meals as a child was Mum’s Family Meat Pie. She’d do a really short pastry using lard or dripping of some kind with a chunky meat filling or use the meat from the Sunday roast. I have to admit not making one for absolute ages, rather opting for sweet pies but a special occasion called for a special dish from my childhood. Pyrex are celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2015 and what better way to showcase one of my most used Pyrex dishes then with a Family Meat Pie using my Pyrex pie plate.
  
I thought I’d try and find a recipe from 100 years ago for the occasion so an elderly friend of mine lent me her mother’s copy of The Commonsense Cookery which celebrated it’s centenary anniversary last year. As you can see from the recipes above, that is Sheep’s Head Fricassee, Jellied Tongues or even how to throw a ‘Hobo Party’ I don’t think I wanted to go that far back. Although pastry has been used for hundreds of years, of various kinds with many different kinds of fillings, so we can’t take full credit for it, we have definitely made it a staple in our every day life as Australians. Nearly every suburb has a bakery that sells meat pies and what’s watching a football game at the stadium without munching on a meat pie.

The cheaper cut of meat the better for a chunky meat pie filling. You could use ground meat but I love the tenderness of a chunky meat pie filling that has been slow cooked all day like I did with the chuck steak I picked up.


Cut it into chunks and dredge in a ziplock bag in seasoned plain flour.

Brown in a little olive oil until golden and then add to slow cooker with some softened carrots, celery and onion.

Add a cup full of stock, preferably beef stock (which I didn’t have so used vegetable stock) and leave it to slow cook away.

My secret to a dark rich gravy for the meat pie? A tablespoon of our famous Aussie Vegemite!

Next thing to do is prepare the shortcrust pastry for the bottom crust of the pie. Lard’s not something you’re likely to find in my fridge so I used butter. One thing I remember my Mum telling me years ago was to have all your ingredients (even your utensils) as cold as possible when making pastry. Pastry is definitely something that is better made in Queensland’s winters rather than summer because of this very thing.

Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs.

After gradually adding the liquid, bring the dough together until it forms a ball and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to avoid shrinkage.

Spray your pie plate with a little oil and roll out the pastry to fit the plate.

Top with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or as I do, dried lentils. (These are my baking lentils I use for precooking pastry. Not sure how old they are.)

Cook the pastry for about 10 minutes. Don’t worry about uneven edges on the pie plate. The top layer of pastry will stick to it. Fill with the cooled meat filling.

I didn’t make my own puff pastry top rather opting for frozen pastry. Apply a little egg wash around the edge of baked ‘bottom’ pastry and then again on top of the puff pastry top for a golden finish when baked. (I decorated the top of the pie with a few leaves but you don’t have to do that. Just poke a hole in the top of the pie top to allow any heat from the filling to escape.)

 Cook until the pastry top is golden and puffed.

The excess gravy just oozes out. Even looking at the photo my mouth is watering. It really was delicious for something so simple. Our ancestors really did know how to make a tasty dish with only the simplest of ingredients. No wonder Pyrex dishes were invented 100 years ago to accommodate all these lovely recipes.

A slice of pie served with mashed potato and vegetables and the most important ingredient, a good squirt of tomato sauce (ketchup) and that’s your Aussie Family Meat Pie.

Family Meat Pie


Filling:

  • 500gm chuck steak, cubed
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour
  • salt and pepper
  • oil for frying
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 celery, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon Vegemite, optional
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Shortcrust Pastry:

  • 2 1/4 cups plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 200gm cold butter, cubed
  • 1/4 cup cold water, approx
  1. Dredge cubed steak in seasoned plain flour and fry until sealed and golden. Remove from pan.
  2. Add a little more oil and fry off carrot, celery and onion until soft.
  3. Add fried meat and vegetables to a slow cooker with 1 cup of beef stock and Vegemite and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on slow. (Alternatively, you could cook the beef pie filling in a pan on the stove top or a dish in the oven.)
  4. Once cooked, allow to cool before adding to pie filling.
  5. For the pastry, add salt to flour and add cubed butter.
  6. Crumble butter into flour using your finger tips, lifting flour up as you go to allow more air into the mixture. Once all butter has been combined into flour, it should resemble fine breadcrumbs.
  7. Slow add cold water a little at a time until a firm ball is formed.
  8. Cover pastry in cling film and put in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes to avoid shrinkage when baking.
  9. Remove pastry from fridge and roll into between 2 sheets of baking paper until large until to fit pie dish.
  10. Cover with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or dried beans/lentils.
  11. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.
  12. Once baked, remove baking paper and pastry weights/lentils.
  13. Add beef filling to pastry and brush beaten egg/milk mixture to edge of pastry base and top with a sheet of frozen puff pastry or you could top with more homemade shortcrust pastry. In that case, double the pastry recipe above.
  14. Cut a small hole in the top pastry layer to allow steam to escape while pie is cooking. Decorate pie if desired.
  15. Brush pie top with beaten egg wash and bake until golden brown. Serve with vegetables (and tomato sauce).
To help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Pyrex, the people from World Kitchen are giving my readers the opportunity to win the above range of Pyrex products. They include:
  • 2 cup glass measuring jug
  • 1 cup glass measuring jug
  • 2 litre mixing bowl
  • Easy Grab 1.9 litre Oblong Baker
  • Special Anniversary edition Engraved Pie Plate
  • Measuring Cups
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Basting Brush

  
The Pyrex measuring cups and spoons are magnetised so they stay together in your baking supply cupboard. I’m forever losing a measuring cup or spoon, especially right in the middle of a recipe. No more lost measuring cups or spoons again.

Everything you need for your family meals and baking.

To enter, just tell me in the comment field below what meal you would make using a Pyrex product. (Please remember to also add your email address so I can contact you.) Competition open to Australian and New Zealand residents only. Good luck!

Competition closed
Winner:  Di C.

Happy Anniversary Pyrex and here’s to the next 100 years! Your products will still be going strong then I’m sure!
Terms and Conditions:
  1. This is a game of skill.  
  2. This competition is open to Australian and New Zealand Residents only.  
  3. The prize is Pyrex products as indicated in the picture above.
  4. This prize is not redeemable in cash.
  5. This competition is open from now until midday, Monday, 27 July 2015 AET.
  6. The winner will be announced on this blog,  Domesblissity Facebook page and Twitter accounts and I will contact you via email.  
  7. The winner will have 7 days to respond, otherwise the prize will be redrawn.
Disclaimer:  I was gifted Pyrex products, as pictured above. All photos, thoughts and opinions are my own.

39 Comments

  1. Julie's Lifestyle
    Julie's Lifestyle on July 20, 2015 at 7:55 pm

    What a nice recipe for meat pie and a lovely giveaway. Good luck to the winner. Have a lovely week.
    Julie xo

  2. Jill Shepherd
    Jill Shepherd on July 20, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    Ooh your pie looks so good Anne! I would cook purple cabbage and chicken pasta gratin in the Pyrex oblong baker – the purple cabbage makes the cheese sauce go a lovely purply-pink colour!
    I shall have to try your pie recipe too! – thanks for sharing!

  3. Mary Preston
    Mary Preston on July 20, 2015 at 11:49 pm

    I love how easy to clean Pyrex is.

    My favourite recipes are favourites because there are left-overs. I'd make a large lasagne to eat that day and then freeze the rest up into portions. The Easy Grab 1.9 litre Oblong Baker would be ideal for the lasagne.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

  4. Louise Mckeon
    Louise Mckeon on July 21, 2015 at 12:15 am

    Id make a sweet potatoe pie!

  5. Karina L
    Karina L on July 21, 2015 at 12:28 am

    I would make a pumpkin, ricotta and cheese lasagne with pumpkin seeds on top!

  6. Kelly-Marie Rowe
    Kelly-Marie Rowe on July 21, 2015 at 12:33 am

    I'd love to make a vegetable lasagne

  7. Debbie Olliver
    Debbie Olliver on July 21, 2015 at 1:37 am

    I'd make a good olde fashioned apple pie – always a family favourite.

  8. Maria
    Maria on July 21, 2015 at 2:05 am

    My family's favourite….Lasagne. I add eggs, ham and either roasted capsicum or eggplant to enhance it. 🙂

  9. Nicole McMorrine
    Nicole McMorrine on July 21, 2015 at 2:08 am

    A pasta bake it is for me
    With tuna, corn and frozen peas
    Make double the batch for everyone
    It's a dinner favourite for my little sons!

  10. Lorna M
    Lorna M on July 21, 2015 at 3:03 am

    My late mum had handed down her gorgeous pyrex and I've used a particular one to always make my shepherd's pie in. A treat the family enjoys!

  11. Helga
    Helga on July 21, 2015 at 3:06 am

    I would do our family's favourite pasta bake with lots of fresh vegetables and veal/pork mince.

  12. Rebecca H
    Rebecca H on July 21, 2015 at 10:26 am

    I would make Hot Apple Pie in Pyrex dish on these cold winter days. Pyrex is a reliable and well known household brand name in the kitchen.

  13. lisamayday
    lisamayday on July 21, 2015 at 11:18 am

    I'd make an eggplant dish I tried for the first time last Saturday night – borani banjan. I never knew eggplant could taste so amazing. lisabates_(at)hotmail(dot)com

  14. zenessa
    zenessa on July 21, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    My homemade recipe/creation for vegetable and sundried lasagne baked in the Easy Grab 1.9 litre Oblong Baker. I may be a Masterchef “wannabe” according to my new flatmates, but so far my lasagne is the one dish that hasn’t caused my family to squirm in their seats when they visit! If I had real-deal pyrex dishes, rather than my hand-me-down tatty dishes, maybe everyone will start to take my Masterchef aspirations seriously! 25phoenixjade (at) gmail (dot) com

  15. Jessii
    Jessii on July 22, 2015 at 2:19 am

    Spinach, pumpkin and feta pie as my teenager has just decided to no longer eat meat, but refuses to cook for herself.

  16. Lisa Conolley
    Lisa Conolley on July 22, 2015 at 3:03 am

    My lasagna would be perfect for Pyrex. Retaining both freshness and delicious flavour 🙂

  17. kaz23z
    kaz23z on July 22, 2015 at 6:06 am

    Oh yum!! I miss meat pies I'm coming up to 12 months being diagnosed with coeliac disease I'm on the hunt for a gluten free pastry to try out so I'd cook a yummy gluten free meat pie for the whole family

    saekae at bigpond dot net dot au

  18. shewanders xo
    shewanders xo on July 22, 2015 at 6:54 am

    Wow, this pack would be amazing for all of my cooking adventures! I would absolutely love to cook a vegan lasagna dish. The whole family loves it and it's a lighter dish that is still packed full of flavour! Scrumptious and a favourite.
    crystal.donohue@hotmail.com

  19. Jen
    Jen on July 22, 2015 at 10:42 am

    Perfect, thanks! Great tips for a vego wanting to cook meat pies for a meat pie loving family! Well, after I make them their pie I guess I'll make a vegie pie for me, or maybe I'll just skip straight to dessert and go with blueberry!

  20. tizz erina
    tizz erina on July 22, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    My nans apple pie. Pyrex is why I cant make it like hers!!! She has always used Pyrex!!

  21. mickgillies2002
    mickgillies2002 on July 23, 2015 at 11:16 am

    Using the fruit from my tree I'd make orange and mandarine pie – full of vitamins and goodness

  22. Joanne Mickan
    Joanne Mickan on July 24, 2015 at 12:39 am

    I'd whip up a delicious peach crumble with hot bubbling butter and brown sugar bubbling all over the rim!

  23. Nic
    Nic on July 24, 2015 at 4:38 am

    I'd make my tart lemon custard curd. Very delicious, but you need loads of cream to cut through the tang!

  24. Di from Max The Unicorn
    Di from Max The Unicorn on July 24, 2015 at 5:03 am

    I would have to make a meaty, delicious four cheese Lasagne! Yum! djchilds at hotmail dot com

  25. jowill
    jowill on July 24, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    The oblong dish lends itself to a tasty vegetarian lasagne. Using cottage cheese instead of bechamel sauce lowers the fat content, and it's easy to get all 5 serves of veges in the one meal. Of course fat and calories saved on the lasagne can then be spent on a delicious pecan pie using pyrex's pie plate!

  26. thefoodmarshall
    thefoodmarshall on July 25, 2015 at 1:07 am

    My late grandma used to make lemon meringue pie in her Pyrex pie dish for as long as I can remember, and I made it once with her, before she fell ill. I'd love to make my mum her fav dessert of lemon meringue pie, to take her straight back to her childhood. Not sure it'd be as good as grandmas though!

  27. eviee1
    eviee1 on July 25, 2015 at 1:17 am

    I have a pumpkin growing in my garden that's nearly ready to pick, so I'd make a Pumpkin Pie as big as I can bake it!
    eviee1966@hotmail.com

  28. Caz Filmer Writes
    Caz Filmer Writes on July 25, 2015 at 1:25 am

    What is it about Pyrex? I think something about it reminds me of my mum's cooking. Beautiful tea cakes, scones, and pavs. All of her keynote dishes. For some bizarre reason, it does my heart good to see the stuff in my kitchen. So I guess I would cook up a commemorative meal for my mum. She has Alzheimer's now and doesn't cook at all. She has been staying with me for a month and tells me what a good cook I am when I make her toast!! The look on her face when I tell her she actually taught me to cook is pure astonishment. So I would make her a lovely roast lamb with roast veggies, gravy and mint sauce – just like she used to make me. Then I'd finish off with an old fashioned tea cake with whipped cream. In fact It think I'll do it regardless. She deserves something special 🙂

  29. 5childrenand IT
    5childrenand IT on July 25, 2015 at 2:49 am

    I would make some Vegetable slice to freeze for nights when I'm in a hurry.

  30. Elise Ellabban
    Elise Ellabban on July 25, 2015 at 11:43 am

    OMG My Pyrex baking dish is on such high rotation in my house – I use it to make potato and pasta bakes, lasagna, roasts, I love it. I WOULD LOVE to win your bundle, I've always wanted a pie dish, and I would love to use some of the leftovers from our frequent slow cooked goulashes and stews to make a fresh meals in a pie.
    (eliseellabban@hotmail.com)

  31. Julia Mason
    Julia Mason on July 26, 2015 at 2:15 am

    I would love to warm up our home with the classic smell of lasagne! So good to eat, so good to make!
    julia_1818@hotmail.com

  32. Reah
    Reah on July 26, 2015 at 6:25 am

    My madeup chicken pie which is a major hit in the family

  33. laurafpow
    laurafpow on July 26, 2015 at 7:21 am

    With Spring on the way (soon I hope!) I'd love to cook up a lovely Strawberry and Rhubarb pie topped with a little lattice design and served with a big dollop of clotted cream

  34. christialshea
    christialshea on July 26, 2015 at 9:45 am

    I love cooking a classic roast in my Pyrex baking dish – my favourite being roast chicken with yummy roasted veggies – all in the one dish! 🙂 I'm not sure if it's because of the yummy taste, easy clean up, or if it's just how it gets the whole family together every weekend for a relaxed sit-down meal!

    me_luv_kenny@hotmail.com

  35. karlene75
    karlene75 on July 26, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    I would make a huge tray of lasagne – as I do in my current Pyrex dish, though it has some permanent burn and oily marks in the glass after 20 years of constant use.

  36. Marnie
    Marnie on July 27, 2015 at 12:44 am

    Not sure if my first comment worked so I'll enter again. I'd like to make a ton of stuff with these Pyrex products but the first thing I'd make would be a cheesecake just like my Mums.
    threepickles@optusnet.com.au
    Marnie x

  37. April J Harris
    April J Harris on July 27, 2015 at 11:28 am

    I love Pyrex products – I can't imagine a kitchen without them! Your Family Meat Pie sounds delicious. I enjoyed looking at the old cookbook – vintage cookbooks are a favourite of mine! Pinned and shared this post. Thank you for sharing with us at the Hearth and Soul Hop, Anne.