Pie and Mash

There are not very many eel, pie and mash shops left in London, though they seem to be coming back into fashion, with new ones opening for the first time in many years. The long-established shops still sell the same old favourites to enthusiastic devotees, from rather Spartan and unlicensed premises.

Most offer the same basic fare. The pies have a home-made shortcrust base which is pressed into individual pie tins and these are not baked blind but are filled with minced beef that has been browned and then cooked in a Bisto gravy. The filling is seasoned with salt, no pepper, and topped with puff pastry. This is brushed with milk and baked for about 40 minutes at 190°C/ 375°F/gas 5, then served with a green (parsley) liquor and potatoes mashed with milk, not butter. The liquor is that in which the eels have been cooked and which, left to go cold, jellies. This is not as strange as it sounds, because eel taste more like meat than fish.