Savory and hearty, these Steak & Stout Hand Pies are the ultimate cold weather comfort food. Steak, carrots, potatoes, and peas are mixed together and cooked with a stout-based sauce before being folded in a flaky, tender pastry crust. What’s better than being able to warm your hands while warming your belly?
Something spooky is happening over here because this recipe isn’t just baking but actually involves a bit of cooking. COOKING. That’s something I literally never used to do as I spent many nights eating cucumbers and popcorn for dinner and joking about creating a second blog called “The Incompetent Cook” to emphasize just how different cooking and baking are. But then quarantine happened and I started picking up a few more recipes, slowly adding them into my routine, and now I’ve got a recipe up on this blog that requires making a stew before getting to the baking bit.
There are many ways to make a savory hand pie, or pasty–let’s be real, that’s what this essentially is–but I feel like cooking the filling first and cooling it completely gives it the chance to thicken even more, preventing the juices from seeping out while cooking or sogging up the pastry. Plus, with the chuck roast, cooking the meat for a while before cooking it again in the pie helps make it tender.
The pastry on these is tender and flaky but sturdy enough that you can pick a pie up by hand and bit into it or tear a piece off. This is one thing I may just have to be cooking more often as the weather cools.
| Cook Time | 2-2 1/4 hours |
| Passive Time | 4-24 hours |
| Servings |
pies
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- 500 grams all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 130 grams unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 130 grams lard or vegetable shortening
- ice water as needed
- 850 grams chuck roast cut into 1/2"-1" chunks, excess fat trimmed off
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 Tbsp flour
- 1 pint Guinness or other stout beer
- 1 brown onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 carrots large, finely diced
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 750 mL water (3 cups)
- 1 beef or vegetable stock cube
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 russet potatoes finely diced
- 25 grams butter (2 Tbsp)
- 200 grams frozen peas (1 1/2 cup)
- 1 egg large
Ingredients
Pie Crust
Steak & Stout Filling
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- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, and pepper. Add in the chunks of butter and the lard/shortening. Using your fingertips, cut the fat into the flour until you're left with pea-sized pieces of butter and lard/shortening coated in flour. Using the tip of a knife, stir in the ice water 2 Tbsp at a time until you can squeeze the dough together in your hands. Give the dough a couple of gentle kneads to bring it together. Divide in half and shape into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours to overnight.
- In a large bowl, season the chunks of beef with salt and pepper. Toss in 2 Tbsp of flour and mix to coat the meat.
- Place a large frying pan over medium heat. Add in 1 Tbsp of oil and allow to heat up for about 1 minute. Add half of the meat into the frying pan and allow to cook 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 2-4 minutes, giving the meat a stir. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked pieces of steak to a large plate lined with a paper towel. Add the second half of the steak into the frying pan and repeat. Pour the pint of stout into the pan and allow to simmer on low for about 5 minutes to deglaze the pan.
- Place a large pot over medium heat. Pour in 2 Tbsp of olive oil and allow to warm for about 1 minute. Add in the diced onions and leave to cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add in the garlic and carrots and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste.
- Pour the stout from the frying pan into the large pot with the onion, garlic, carrot, and tomato paste. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, water, and crumble in the stock cube. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and season with salt and pepper.
- Add in the potatoes and the steak. Allow to bubble for 45 minutes until the liquid begins to thicken and reduce a bit and the carrots and potatoes are tender. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp of melted butter, 1 Tbsp of water, and 2 Tbsp of flour. Stir this mixture into the stew. Cover and allow to simmer on low for an additional 30-45 minutes until thick and the meat is tender, stir occasionally to keep from sticking. Stir in the frozen peas for the final 2-5 minutes of cooking. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a glass dish or a large bowl and allow to cool for 40 minutes before chilling in the fridge. Chill the filling for 3-4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- To make the hand pies, remove the chilled dough from the fridge and allow to rest at room temp for 15-30 minutes to soften. Roll one disc of dough out until it is about 1/4" thick. Using a 7"-8" plate, cut two rounds from the dough. Give it a light knead and roll out until you can trace another round. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Spoon two heaping spoonfuls of the filling over 1/2 of each circle, leaving about 1/2" around the edge of the dough to crimp.
- Whisk 1 egg with 1 Tbsp of water for an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the edge of 1/2 of the circle and fold the dough over the steak filling. Fold up the edge of the dough and crimp with your fingers or a fork. Brush the egg wash over the tops of the pies. Use a knife to cut two slits in the top. Place 3 pies on each prepared baking sheet. Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until the top and bottom of the pastry are golden brown. Allow to cool a little before digging in.
* You may have extra filling left over. You can make extra dough and make a couple of extra pies (or use store bought pie dough), or heat and eat as a stew.