Beef, Onion and Ale Hand-raised Pie

M

marilynfl

Moderator
from Meat Pies by Brian Polcyn with Michael Ruhlman

Boy, this...this was an effort. You have to make the filling ahead of time. You have to make the dough ahead of time. You have to order the cute little pie dolly because you are, if nothing else, a sucker for cute and then wait for it to arrive.

So I did.
And I did.
And I did.

Finally I had all the components in place and made my first, possibly my last, hand-raised pie. For comparison, I pulled out the frozen Trader Joe Steak and Ale pie and baked them side by side.

First: obviously, the TJ version was formed/baked in a mold. See proof below that I hand-shaped mine on said cute pie dolly. Point to Marilyn.
Second: the TJ version leaked while baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Third: The TJ version cracked during baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Fourth: The TJ version had ONE chunk of meat. The rest was potato and a lone carrot piece. My filling was nothing but tender, rich beef chunks and onion, thicked with a beurre manie. So many points to Marilyn.
Fifth: The TJ crust was more tender and had an almost buttery taste...more like pie filling. I made my hot-water crust with extremely expensive leaf lard and no butter. This dough has a very nice taste (not porky at all) and went well with the filling, but needed a knife to break through the crust. I would give one point to TJ and half a point to Marilyn.

Outcome: 1 to 4.5
Marilyn wins, floury hands down.

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marilynfl said:
from Meat Pies by Brian Polcyn with Michael Ruhlman

Boy, this...this was an effort. You have to make the filling ahead of time. You have to make the dough ahead of time. You have to order the cute little pie dolly because you are, if nothing else, a sucker for cute and then wait for it to arrive.

So I did.
And I did.
And I did.

Finally I had all the components in place and made my first, possibly my last, hand-raised pie. For comparison, I pulled out the frozen Trader Joe Steak and Ale pie and baked them side by side.

First: obviously, the TJ version was formed/baked in a mold. See proof below that I hand-shaped mine on said cute pie dolly. Point to Marilyn.
Second: the TJ version leaked while baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Third: The TJ version cracked during baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Fourth: The TJ version had ONE chunk of meat. The rest was potato and a lone carrot piece. My filling was nothing but tender, rich beef chunks and onion, thicked with a beurre manie. So many points to Marilyn.
Fifth: The TJ crust was more tender and had an almost buttery taste...more like pie filling. I made my hot-water crust with extremely expensive leaf lard and no butter. This dough has a very nice taste (not porky at all) and went well with the filling, but needed a knife to break through the crust. I would give one point to TJ and half a point to Marilyn.

Outcome: 1 to 4.5
Marilyn wins, floury hands down.

View attachment 3093 View attachment 3094 View attachment 3095

View attachment 3096
Click to expand...
It looks delicious, would you make it again now that you have all the parts?
 
marilynfl said:
from Meat Pies by Brian Polcyn with Michael Ruhlman

Boy, this...this was an effort. You have to make the filling ahead of time. You have to make the dough ahead of time. You have to order the cute little pie dolly because you are, if nothing else, a sucker for cute and then wait for it to arrive.

So I did.
And I did.
And I did.

Finally I had all the components in place and made my first, possibly my last, hand-raised pie. For comparison, I pulled out the frozen Trader Joe Steak and Ale pie and baked them side by side.

First: obviously, the TJ version was formed/baked in a mold. See proof below that I hand-shaped mine on said cute pie dolly. Point to Marilyn.
Second: the TJ version leaked while baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Third: The TJ version cracked during baking. Mine didn't. Point to Marilyn.
Fourth: The TJ version had ONE chunk of meat. The rest was potato and a lone carrot piece. My filling was nothing but tender, rich beef chunks and onion, thicked with a beurre manie. So many points to Marilyn.
Fifth: The TJ crust was more tender and had an almost buttery taste...more like pie filling. I made my hot-water crust with extremely expensive leaf lard and no butter. This dough has a very nice taste (not porky at all) and went well with the filling, but needed a knife to break through the crust. I would give one point to TJ and half a point to Marilyn.

Outcome: 1 to 4.5
Marilyn wins, floury hands down.

View attachment 3093 View attachment 3094 View attachment 3095

View attachment 3096
Click to expand...
That looks delicious. So you lay the ingredients on top of the dolly then wrap pastry around the filling? I learned something new, never heard of a pie dolly. Well done, floury hands! šŸ˜‚
 
monj, you can either lay the rolled dough on the table, set the dolly in the middle and pressed upward to form the empty shell, then remove the dolly.

Orā€¦turn the dolly upside down (handle grip at bottom), lay the dough on top and pressed downward and against the sides. I tried both methods andā€”with my dough, which was softā€”pressing downward was easier. Then i trimmed the bottom rim to about 3.5ā€ and carefully lifted it off the dolly.

Filled the dough shell with meat, rolled the lid, cut it slightly bigger than the base, wet the circumference and pressed the top and bottom together. Then crimped to pull it toward the center.

Cute as a button but fussy.
 
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