Old Fashioned Minced Beef and Onion Pie Recipe

Individual British minced beef and onion pie with shortcrust pastry served with peas and potatoes.

Old Fashioned Minced Beef and Onion Pie Recipe

When it comes to pies, an individual minced beef and onion pie may not be the most blingy, but it is hands down one of the most tasty. My version features a crispy homemade shortcrust pastry and a fantastic gravy!

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Keyword beef mince pie, minced beef and onion pie, old fashioned mince beef pie

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 45

Servings Servings

Calories 1056kcal

Author Brian Jones

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

185 g Plain Flour 1½ Cups
45 g Beef Dripping 3 tablespoon
45 g Butter 3 tablespoon
1 Pinch Salt
1 teaspoon Malt Vinegar
Water as required 3-4 Tbsp

For the Pie:

1 Large Onion 200g (Total)
15 g Beef Dripping 1 tablespoon (You could use cooking oil.)
250 g Minced Beef 9oz
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 tablespoon Tomato Puree
50 ml Worcestershire Sauce 3 tablespoon
500 ml Beef Stock 2 Cups
1 teaspoon Marmite
1 Medium Egg
1 teaspoon Cornflour
2 teaspoon Water

Instructions

Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor and add the beef dripping, butter and salt. Then pulse until the mix has formed a breadcrumb texture.
It is important that the butter and dripping are cold.
Add the vinegar and blend, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time until a ball starts to form a ball.
Transfer to a lightly floured work surface, bring the dough together, wrap in cling film and then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Whilst the pastry is chilling, peel and cut the onions into a 5mm (¼") dice.
Melt the beef dripping for the pie filling over a medium heat in a 30cm or 12" frying pan, then fry the onions for 10 minutes. You want them to soften and go golden, so if they colour too quickly, reduce the heat a little.
Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves.
Strip the leaves from the sprigs of thyme.
Turn the heat up under the onions as high as it will go, and when the sizzling really picks up, add the minced beef and cook until nicely browned. This will take around 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, tomato puree and thyme and cook for 30 seconds.
Pour in the Worcestershire sauce and cook until it has reduced by half, then reduce the heat to medium, pour in the beef stock and stir in the Marmite.
Simmer for 15 minutes, now is a good time to have a taste and add salt as required, be careful though because the stock, Marmite and Worcestershire sauce are all very salty.
Then allow the pie filling to cool before making the pies.
When the pie filling has cooled, it is time to build the pie. Begin by straining the gravy from the filling, this is so we can have some for pouring over the pie when it is cooked.
Roll out the pastry until it is 3-4mm (⅛") thick and cut it in half, then cut a piece off large enough to form the lid of each pie.
Grease and flour two small pie dishes.
I use oval pie dishes that hold around 250ml (1 cup) of liquid that are 15cm x 11cm x 3cm (6" x 4½" x 1¼").
Line a pie dish with a piece of pastry with a generous overhang, and add half of the pie filling and a couple of tablespoons of the gravy.
Beat the egg in a bowl and brush the edge of the pie, then add a piece of rolled-out pastry for the lid.
Crimp the lid onto the base and cut off the overhang.
Brush the top of the pie with more beaten egg and make a small hole in the centre, sprinkle with a little flaky salt, then make the second pie.
Pop the pies in a preheated oven with a heavy tray in it, cook the pies at 180°C or 350°F for 40-45 minutes.
When the pies have 5 minutes left, heat the leftover gravy in a 15cm or 6" saucepan, mix together the cornflour and water and combine the two, cooking and stirring until the gravy has thickened.

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