Traditional Scotch Pies
How to make delicious traditional Scotch pies, using hot water crust pastry, easy step by step instructions from start to finish.
Ingredients
Method
- The Pastry:
- 400g / 14oz Plain or all-purpose flour
- 160g / mls Water
- 90g / 3¼oz Butter
- 100g / 3½oz Lard or shortening
- 8g / 1tsp Salt
- Egg wash
- The Filling:
- 500g / 18oz Minced/ground Lamb
- 1 Medium size onion, finely diced
- 2tbls Olive oil
- 4g / 1tsp Ground Mace
- 2g / 1tsp mixed herbs or Italian seasoning
- 2 Small Bay leaves (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 570mls / 1 Pint Beef or lamb stock
- Making the pastry:
- Mix the salt and flour together
- Place the water on a low heat and add the butter and lard to the pan, bring to a simmer.
- Soon as the fats have melted, pour the hot liquid onto the flour in the bowl and bring it all together.
- Tip the contents of the bowl out onto a floured surface.
- Gently knead the dough until it all comes together.
- Cut the pastry onto 2 pieces, 1/ 2 thirds, for the base of the pie, and 1/ 1 third for the top of the pie.
- Cover in plastic wrap or food bags, and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before using.
- Making the filling:
- Heat up the oil in a medium size pan that has a lid.
- Add the diced onions and fry until soft.
- Add the spices and seasoning to the pan and stir them in.
- Once done, add the minced Lamb, and fry until the mince has broken down to smaller pieces and coloured.
- Add the beef stock to the pan, you can add a couple of Bay leaves at this point, for extra flavour, bring to a slow boil and place the lid on and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Once done, stain off the stock, add the mince to a separate bowl, cover it and allow it to cool.
- Pour the stock into a jug and skim off the fat while it’s still hot, discard the fat in a sensible way, never pour it down the drain, a good tip is to place it in the fridge overnight, it will solidify, then you can discard it in the normal trash bin.
- I’m using 4 little pie tins to make mine; the dimensions are 100mm x 20mm, approximately 4 x 1 inches.
- Roll out your pastry, and cut out 4, 125mm / 5” circles for the bases, and 4 100mm / 4” circles for the lids of the pies.
- Place the pastry bases in the pie tins, press the pastry right down into the corners, make sure leave some pastry sticking over the rim of the pie tin.
- Fill the cases with the Lamb mincemeat, lightly compact it down, and fill right to the top.
- At this point, preheat your oven to, 170°C / 340°F / Gas mark 3.
- Brush egg wash all around the edge of the pastry in the tin.
- Brush egg wash on the underside of the lids and place the lids on the top of the pie bases, and gently press it down, using your thumbs and forefingers crimp the 2 pastries together.
- Place all 4 pies on a baking tray.
- Give each pie a good coat of the egg wash.
- Place the tray on the lowest part of the preheated oven, and use the bottom element if you have one.
- Now set your timer for 40 minutes.
- Making the Gravy:
- Pour the stock from the jug we made earlier, into a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, add a couple of knobs of butter, (this will give the gravy a nice glaze)
- To thicken the gravy, mix 1 tsp of cornflour/starch in 2 tbls of cold water, add it to the simmering gravy a little at a time while stirring, until you reach your required thickness.
- Simmer on a very low heat for 5 minutes, with the lid on, and that is your tasty gravy done.
- When the time is up, remove from the oven, place the tray on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove hot pies from the tins, and serve immediately, with peas and mashed potatoes or fries, and lots of that lovely gravy.
- Enjoy.
Equipment & products used in my kitchen and videos
