Name: Humble Beef Pie
Yield: Makes 6
Ingredients: 40 ml (1¼ fl oz/2 tablespoons) extra virgin olive oil; 150 g (5½ oz) carrots, cut into 1–1.5 cm (½–⅝ inch) cubes; 4 thyme sprigs, leaves picked; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 150 g (5½ oz) onions, peeled and cut into 1–1.5 cm (½–⅝ inch) cubes; ½ quantity puff pastry; egg wash, for brushing; 4 g (⅛ oz/1 teaspoon) potato flour; 1 quantity savoury shortcrust pastry; 150 g (5½ oz) celery, cut into 1–1.5 cm (½–⅝ inch) cubes; 375 g (13 oz) tomatoes, roughly chopped; 2½ g (1/16 oz/1 teaspoon) white pepper; 900 g (2 lb) cubed beef cheeks, trimmed of fat, cut into 2–3 cm (¾–1¼ inch) cubes; 55 ml (1¾ fl oz) malt vinegar; 10 g (¼ oz/2 teaspoons) salt

Preparation info

Makes
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Bourke Street Bakery

By Paul Allam and David McGuinness

Published 2009

About

We use beef cheek in this pie, which is the perfect cut of meat. It braises really well, holds its shape, has a beautiful, earthy, gelatinous meaty flavour and most importantly, it doesn’t dry out like so many other braising cuts. Having said that, the beef cheek can be annoying to clean, so it is best to ask your butcher to do it for you, and then have it diced into 2–3 cm (