Is there anything better than a good Beef and Ale pie?
Pieces of melt in the mouth beef in a fantastic unctuous sauce, encased in buttery pastry!!! I’ve seen this fantastic dish made with absolutely no love or care so many times! Meat thrown into a saucepan, covered with water, boiled to within an inch of its life! Thickened with gravy granules and then the final indignity of being wedged between the most tasteless ill made pastry one can imagine!!! By “chefs” too!!
This recipe I’m going to share with you guys is as far from that method as you can possibly get! We’re going to use the ox/beef cheek for starters, marinated in fantastic Wild Craft Brewery Wild Ride Dry Hopped Pale Ale, slowly cooked until wonderfully tender…..
Now i’m using Wild Ride because, firstly, I love the name, Wild Ride! just brilliant, and secondly, Wild Ride has been produced in celebration of Norwich Door to Doors 25th Anniversary, their mission is to enable social inclusion and enhance quality of life for people with severe mobility problems on low incomes in Norwich and districts! Great cause x I could go on and on!!
But let’s just get started shall we?? The recipe does take time, but believe me it’s well worth the work This recipe will make you a pie enough to feed 6 people easily
Shopping List:
500g ox cheek ( trimmed of the sinew)
500g piece smoked bacon, cut into lardons
One bottle of Wild Craft Brewery Wild Ride Pale Ale
10g of flour
Beef dripping for frying
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 carrots peeled and chopped
150g button mushrooms, quartered
2 litres beef stock
1 tbsp Of bovril (optional but makes the difference)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 6cm-long marrow bone ( ask your butcher he’ll get you a piece)
For the pastry:
500g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
chopped thyme leaves
Sea salt and black pepper
100g bone marrow, chilled and grated (or suet)
100g butter, chilled and grated
4 egg yolks, beaten
Cold milk
METHOD:
Marinade the ox cheek:
Cut the ox cheek into generous chunks, not too small, keep it quiet big, put the ox cheek in a bowl, add the bacon lardons and marinade in the beer for as long as possible, ideally over night
For the pastry:
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, thyme, a pinch of salt and some black pepper. Gently stir in the bone marrow and butter, then add the egg yolks and enough cold milk to bind,the idea is to bring it together into a paste. Don’t over work the pastry Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least an hour
Cooking the meat:
Drain the meat and reserve the marinade. Pat dry and dust the ox cheek in seasoned flour. Pat dry the bacon lardons. Heat the dripping in a large pan, brown the meat all over in batches, then brown the onion, garlic, carrot and mushrooms. Add the marinade, stock and Bovril and simmer for 3 hours, DO NOT BOIL THE PAN!!!!! Gently cook until the meat is tender.
Making that fantastic sauce/gravy:
Lift out the meat and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep to one side,increase the heat under the pan and reduce the sauce to a coating consistency, skim off any scum from the top, Now return all the meat and vegetables to the sauce,adjust the seasoning and set aside to cool.
Now for the pie!!!
Fill a pie dish with the meat mix, and stand the marrow bone in the centre, just like a pie funnel! Roll the pastry to about 1cm thick and lay over the filling, you’ll need to make a small hole for the marrow bone to poke through,allow a overhang. The marrow bone should sit proud of the pastry. Sitting nicely in the centre of the pie Heat the oven to 180C Glaze the pastry with milk and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry is well browned.
I’d serve some delicious horseradish mashed potatoes and bashed carrots and swede with this utterly unctuous pie You will not taste a better Beef and Ale Pie!!
Happy cooking Jon
Mikes Tips - If you can't get the piece of marrow bone, don't worry, do ensure you cut a hole in the top of the pastry to allow for the steam to escape though!
Make sure you buy your bacon from the butcher, supermarket lardons are full of salt and not smoke!
Make sure you have an afternoon spare to prep and cook this one, it takes a while.
About the chef: Jon Fell MCGC
Holder of the World Record Largest Scotch Egg 2014, Head Chef at the reimagined Rosehill Theatre Restaurant, The Green Room, Seafood chef on the Simply Good Food TV app.
After graduating from Loughborough Catering College in 1990 I spent my early years in large hotels in Croydon and Gloucestershire. In March 2003 I moved to Cumbria, working for the likes of the Frost-Penningtons at Muncaster Castle, where my passion for the food producers, produce and all things Cumbria and Its food began.
I’m a Seafood chef on the Simply Good Food TV app, my Cookery demonstrations and judging takes me around the country.
Find jon online at jonfellchef.net
Follow him on Twitter: @jonfellchef
37 comments
Wow, this combination of ox cheek, Wild Ride Dry Hopped Pale Ale, and bone marrow pie sounds absolutely incredible! If you’re into exploring unique culinary experiences, this reminds me of the diverse and flavorful offerings in kuliner jogja. It’s great to see such creativity in food pairing!
https://podjokjogja.com/
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