ok
I`ll spill the beans
it aint that hard.
First off pour yourself a large glass of red wine
take a sip
take a slurp
you are ready to proceed...
what you need is stewing steak 2 lds, 1 kg..some, cubed, mushrooms onions
get a saucepan with a slurp of oil in it hot and chuck in your meat
brown the meat, stirring a lot with wooden spoon
when nearly brown 3 or 4 mins chuck in sliced onions and mushrooms salt pepper, herbs(whatever you got) and a table spoon flour to help thicken things later
cook a little longer and the turn down heat
now you need to stew the meat etc on low heat but need some liquid
chuck in some wine, or beer, or water
tomato paste herbs lea and perrins...any thing really that adds liquid and flavour
Stock is great, basically you want it to be on slow simmer for a couple of hours, so need enough liquid to allow for evaporation, or put a lid on it
1 1/2 hrs 2 hrs...who cares turn it off if nice thick sauce acquired
buy pastry, mine was short crust
roll it out and get a dish
anything you got will do, esp if its got depth
trick is to rub butter allover dish, dust it in flour an line said dish with your pastry, save 1/3 for top
definitely have another slurp of red wine if you haven't yet, or if you have
now fill with your stewed meat mixture, its better if its cold
roll pastry out for top..s
if you beat an egg yoke and brush it where the pastry joins it helps it stick togeather, squeeze it together with thumb & forefinger..I used my surf booad waxing comb to press it togeather....lol
be inventive
brush top with rest of egg yoke
punch hole in top with a knife so steam can get out
(decorate with off cuts of pastry if you want to get fancy
put it in oven at 200degrees for 40 mins
job firkin done
drink more red wine
prep some veg
viola
hope you do it
it aint rocket science....and its a joy to eat something you made
never written anything like this before, hope it works
Good Luck Pie lover
<S> Jimmy
