Savory Meat pies--Whats your favorite

[ishmael]

Doing a little research on savory meat pies. Would like to know your all time fave and what makes it so--crust, filling --anything relavant. If you have a recipe you'd like to share that would be a bonus.

[steinpilz]

Wow, great thread.

[Will Owen]

All of the above, plus the wonderful Russian piroshki. I frankly do not believe it's possible for any competent cook to screw up any concoction of meat in pastry - boiled, baked, deepfried, whatever. Even those Swanson frozen pot-pies of my childhood have their charms...

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has a recipe for meat-filled fried empanadas with a cornmeal crust - that was the first kind I ever tried, I think an Argentinian recipe, at an international food fair in Nashville, and I've not seen the like since, nor found exactly the right recipe. I will repost this appeal on the Home Cooking board.

[MeffaBabe]

I just made a taco pie- regular pie crust- add in the grated cheese to bottom crust- add in meat (already cooked with taco seasonings and spices. I also add onions and a can of diced tomatoes and let cook all down until all liquid is evaporated) add to pie crust- top with cheese and put top crust on. Bake until crusts are done. Serve with salsa and sour cream on side.

[amandine]

French-canadian meat pie... how I look forward to this every holiday! My mom's got my great-grandma's recipe... filling is a mixture of ground pork and veal, with onions and i think a bit of cloves for spice? i'm not sure what else. baked in traditional shortening-based pie dough, two layer. We eat this with regular Heinz ketchup or homemade ketchup aux fruits (compote of summer stone fruit and onions)

[piccola]

Each recipe is different, depending on the region and the family. Some put potatoes in there (sacrilege in my family), others stick to one kind of meat, etc. We usually serve it with green tomato ketchup/chutney.

[Krista G]

Moroccan bisteeya. The powdered sugar and almond laced pie traditionally contains pigeon meat but I used turkey drumsticks and created one for Thanksgiving. You really have to love the sweet-savory combo to appreciate this one but I think the flavors are amazing.

here's one version (there are a million variations and spellings):
http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/bastila.html

---------------------------
http://www.project-me.com

[cuppamud]

I made this morel & pheasant pie for Christmas from a recipe in Saveur magazine 5-7 years ago. A flaky pastry, a silky roux, tender meat, fragrant earthy morels. I took a bite. I wanted to weep. It was so good.

It made me think of death, the way that good food and celebrations with family and friends and the simple ceremonies of food always make me think of death. And life.

If I can find the recipe, I will post it.

[amkirkland]

lamb and mint

[toodie jane]

My Auntie Nell took me to a small British grocery down by the San Lorenzo River in SC and bought me some rich meat pies she called Toad In A Hole. They were delicious! Double crust lakey pastry with ground pork inside. Pretty rich!

[opinionatedchef]

is SC southern cal. or south carolina? i didn't know there were any spanish named places in s.c.

[toodie jane]

sorry, Santa Cruz (CA)

[Xanthippe]

Eeek, I'm a bit late to the party on this, but I'm hoping you can name the British grocery in Santa Cruz, toodie jane. I'd love to check it out, and get some of of those meat pies -- among other things!

Many years ago, I had a veal and ham pie in Dundee, Scotland; I still dream about that pie.

[Xanthippe]

Eeek, I'm a bit late to the party on this, but I'm hoping you can name the British grocery in Santa Cruz, toodie jane. I'd love to check it out, and get some of of those meat pies -- among other things!

Many years ago, I had a veal and ham pie in Dundee, Scotland; I still dream about that pie.

[RiJaAr]

tourtiere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourti%C...
cornish pasties
steak and onion pie

[sillyrabbit]

Sfeeha (Lebanese Meat Pies)! I posted a recipe recently. They are made with ground lamb, allspice, and pinenuts, stuffed into simple bread dough which is pressed into triangles. Very addictive!

[AnneM]

Not sure if this qualifies...my mother's family is from Nova Scotia...we grew up eating Patee a la Rapure (Rappie Pie). It's grated potato, chicken or beef, or pork. The potato liquid is squeezed out and replaced with a meat broth, meat put in, then all is baked.

[Candy]

Tourtiere! Canadian pork pie that is traditional for Christmas Eve. With a lard crust and some gravy it is hard to beat. That is what we'll be having 12/24 for dinner.

[piccola]

What, no green tomato ketchup?

[Candy]

I am a gravy, frites and peas person. Good rich pork gravy, can't beat it.

[hagar4316]

Aussie in-hand pies from a pie shop, lamb, curry, or whatever and a beer. I almost lived on them when I was in Cairns.

[tunapet]

They are really great eh? God I would kill for one right now!

[welle]

tunapet, if you come down to NYC, there is a place that's run by Aussies that specializes in meat pies - Tuck Shop. The pies are delish! They also sell uncooked ones frozen - you maybe able to mail order them: http://www.tuckshopnyc.com/.

[Bill on Capitol Hill]

Steak and kidney! With HP Sauce!

[therealbigtasty]

I LOVE steak and kidney pie!

[Mimi]

Crawfish pie! Poo Yie!

[Robert Lauriston]

Jamaican beef patty.

Homemade empanadas with a filling including green olives, oregano, and cinnamon.

[makemestupid]

wow. . .can't believe i forgot about those. they rock.

[opinionatedchef]

robert,
i keep agreeing with your various posts; where do you live? (i'm near boston). the only excellent jamaican beef patties i have had in the u.s. are at the Jamaican Jerk Hut on South St in Philly. absolutely amazing. all of the jamaican restnts in boston sell pre-frozen ones from that brooklyn factory. yech. that TOUGH thick yellow crust and overly salted blah pastey filling.... Where have you had good ones in the u.s.?thanks much.

[LStaff]

I don't think I've ever met a meat pie I didn't like.

Add Cornish Pasty to the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

[Pei]

Amen. They're all good.

Japanese curry filled pastry
Shepherd's pie
Turkey pot pie
Taiwanese wedding "cookie." There's a more sweet kind, but the kind I like has big chunks of lard and meat in it.

[ipsedixit]

"Taiwanese wedding "cookie." There's a more sweet kind, but the kind I like has big chunks of lard and meat in it."

------------------------------------------------

Pei, do you mean "Yo-fan" or literally translated, "oil rice"?

[Pei]

Nope. Not at all like yo fan.

A Chinese wedding cookie is called a "xi bing" (auspicious occassion cookie). It's about 8" in diameter and shaped like a flat plate about 3/4th inch high.

The outside is Chinese style pastry crust covered in white sesame seeds.

The inside looks like what I can only describe as mince meat pie. It's some kind of combination of sugar, cubes of crunchy pork fat, cooked duck yolk, and other savory/sweet things. It sounds bizarre, but it's a delicious combination of the flakey crust and chewy inside.

I have seen this at Chinese bakeries, including the one next door to SinBaLa in Arcadia, but the American versions are without exception DREADFUL. Kind of like how it's impossible to find a good fruitcake, but in theory they should taste good. The most famous xi bing in Taiwan are made in a northern city called Dan Shui, and people who are getting married order truckloads months in advance to mail to everyone they know.

[ipsedixit]

Oh, yeah, I know what you are talking about now.

Personally, I can't stand those things, they're right up there (or down there) with mooncakes in the culinary totem pole of yummy things to eat.

:-)

[Pei]

Have you ever had one from Tan Shui in Taiwan? Those are the only ones that I love. I agree that anything you can get elsewhere is about as (un)tasty as a mooncake, but those are STELLAR.

[CocoDan]

My Mother and Grandmother used to make a Ricotta pie with ham in it. Top and bottom crust fairly flakey with a firm 2-3 inches of filling that consists of lots of eggs and more cheese. It was like eating peanuts; you couldn't stop until it was gone. Unfortunately, it's very fattening and surely will clog your arteries. My favorite. Enjoy.
CocoDan

[Steve]

A good Bolivian Saltena is hard to beat. I like it because it's a meal. It's football-shaped, hard pastry exterior, filled with soup, usually beef or chicken. Should have some hard boiled egg, olives, and other vegetables as well. The dough is slightly sweet, so it has that contrast with the filling. if made right, you have to be very careful eating it as it can be very messy.

[JoLi]

Second that! Saltenas are hard to come by though.

[welle]

Third that! I looove the rich broth inside.

[makemestupid]

every culture has their own version of a meat pie. unfortunately, i'm only spectacularly good at eating them, but here's my list of faves and where i find them:

- argentine empanadas (from the truck in midtown nyc or the truck on 8th street near wash sq.)
- indian samosas, mutton or veggie (from anywhere)
- british curried lamb pies, savory pork pies, steak and kidney pies (from meyer's of keswick on hudson)
- pierogis (veselka)
- chinese dumplings (mai-mai in chinatown)

[JoLi]

Where is the truck in midtown Nyc?

I love empanadas!

[wayne keyser]

Let's just pass by the meat pie shop of Mrs. Lovett (conveniently located under Sweeney Todd's barbershop)...

Does a pork pupusa count? I love the way the soft masa crust (just slightly browned) mingles with the meat, all set off by the traditional side of crunchy curtido (marinated shredded cabbage).

Then again there's any style of pot pie (I know I'm veeringf way far away from what you were most likely asking about) - and in this case the crust especially needs to be everything a "pie crust" is supposed to be: flaky, tender, moist but not soggy.