Beef and Guinness Pie brings together Beef and Guinness, two of Ireland’s most famous products. The long slow cooking of the filling creates perfectly tender beef and allows the flavour of the Guinness to permeate the meat and the vegetables to produce a thick, luscious sauce.
HINT: For a no-mess no-washing solution, use a Hulett foil roasting tray or pie dish instead of a regular ceramic deep pie dish.
Ingredients
For the Pastry:
- 200 grams flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 110 grams butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and lard
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water (cold)
- 1 egg (beaten)
(You can also substitute with store-bought pie pastry)
For the Filling:
- 25 grams flour
- 900 grams chuck or stewing steak (2.5cm cubes)
- 25 grams butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 large onions (thinly sliced)
- 2 carrots (chopped to 2.5cm cubes)
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons tomato puree
- 500 ml Guinness (or Milk Stout)
- 300 ml beef stock (hot)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Method
- Place the flour in a large bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper. Add the cubes of meat and toss well in the flour until evenly coated.
- Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish until the butter has melted. Add the meat to the fat in small batches and brown quickly all over for just a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the onions and carrots to the pan and fry gently for about 2 minutes. Then return the meat to the pan with the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, ale, stock, and sugar. Grind in plenty of black pepper and a little salt, stir well and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce to a gentle simmer and cook slowly for about 2 hours until the meat is tender, and the sauce has thickened and is glossy. Remove from the heat, place into a 1.5 litre deep pie dish and leave to cool completely.
- Heat the oven to 200˚C.
- Roll out the pastry to 3mm. Cut 2cm strip from the rolled-out pastry. Brush the rim of the pie dish with water and place the pastry strip around the rim, pressing it down. Cut out the remaining pastry about 1″/2.5cm larger than the dish. Sit a pie funnel in the centre of the filling; it will support the pastry and stop it from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.
- Place the pastry lid over the top and press down to the edge and seal. Trim off any excess pastry and crimp the edges with a fork or between your thumb and forefinger. Brush the top with beaten egg and make a hole in the centre to reveal the pie funnel. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.