Australian recipe
How to make Meat pie
All over Australia
A hand-sized pie of minced or diced beef in thick gravy, with a shortcrust base and often a flaky top. It is eaten hot, straight from the hand, usually with tomato sauce squeezed on top.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets ready-made shortcrust pastry and 2 sheets puff pastry (or pastry for a 23 cm pie dish)
- 750 g beef chuck steak, cut into small cubes, or beef mince
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 500 ml beef stock
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce (ketchup), plus extra to serve
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the beef in batches. Add the onion and cook until soft.
- Stir in the flour, then slowly add the stock, tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer gently for about 1 hour 15 minutes (30 minutes if using mince), stirring now and then, until the meat is tender and the gravy is thick. Season, then cool the filling quickly (spread it in a shallow dish) and put it in the fridge within 2 hours. It keeps there for up to 2 days.
- Heat the oven to 200 °C. Line a greased pie dish (or 6 small pie tins) with shortcrust pastry, fill with the cold meat, and cover with puff pastry. Press the edges to seal and cut a small slit in the top.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake for 25 to 30 minutes (35 to 40 minutes for one large pie), until golden and the filling is piping hot.
- Rest for 5 minutes, as the filling is very hot, and serve with tomato sauce.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The meat pie has been described as Australia's national dish, and it is the classic snack at a football match. Food rules say a commercial meat pie must be at least 25 percent meat.
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