Scotch Pie Recipe

Traditional Scotch pie served with lamb gravy, potatoes and runner beans.

Scotch Pie Recipe

Scotch pies are also known as Scottish pies, they are part of a rich culture of British savoury pies. They are filled with minced lamb or mutton flavoured with mace and other herbs and they taste simply stunning!

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Keyword lamb scotch pie, mutton scotch pie, scotch pie, scottish pie

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Cooling Time 15

Total Time 1 30

Servings Servings

Calories 1588kcal

Author Brian Jones

Ingredients

For the Hot Crust Pastry:

100 g Lard ¼ Cup + 3 tablespoon
100 ml Water ¼ Cup + 3 tablespoon
250 g Plain flour 2 Cups minus 1 tablespoon
½ teaspoon salt
2 Egg Yolks 1 for glazing

For the Lamb Filling:

350 g Minced Lamb or Mutton 12oz
1 Small Onion 100g
1 Blade Mace
½ tablespoon Black Pepercorns
1 teaspoon Coarse Sea Salt
¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Dried Parsley
1 teaspoon Dried Mint
2 tablespoon Lamb Stock

Instructions

Pour the water and add the lard into a small pan and heat it over a medium heat until the lard just melts.
Place the flour, one egg yolk and salt into a food processor and blitz to combine.
Slowly pour the hot water and dripping mix into the food processor whilst it is spinning until a dough ball forms.
Wrap the dough in cling film and set aside until it is almost completely cooled.
Place the minced lamb in a bowl.
Peel and dice the onion as finely as you can, then add it to the bowl with the onion.
Grind the coarse sea salt, black pepper and mace in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and add it to the lamb.
Add the dried mint, parsley, nutmeg and lamb stock and mix well.
Grease and lightly flour 2 x 10-11cm (4-4.5") pie tins. I like to use lard.
Take a third of the pastry and roll it out to 4-5mm (~⅛") thick and use it to line a pie tin cutting off any excess pastry. Transfer it to the fridge and repeat with the second pie tin.
Divide the lamb mix in half, form into two balls and add them to the two pie tins, pressing down to form a flat top and to fill the pies. The filling should come up to 10mm (~½") below the top of the pie.
Roll out the remaining pastry so that it is 2-3mm thick (just under ~⅛") and cut out two rounds using a pastry cutter so that they will fit inside the pastry case. Then cut out a small hole (7-8mm or just over ¼"). I use a piping nozzle for this.
Place the pastry lids inside the pies; it is important that the lid is the perfect size to just fit inside the pastry case and remain below the level of the top of the pie.
Brush the top of the pie with the remaining beaten egg yolk.
Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes at 180°C or 350°F.
Remove from the oven and remove the pies from the tins as soon as they are cool enough to handle with a tea towel. Leaving them too long may result in pies that are difficult to take out of the tin.

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