Pie and mash are as intrinsically linked to London as black cabs and Beefeaters (Yeomans, not the ghastly restaurant chain!) Eel, pie and mash houses are bits of living history, originally established in Victorian London, pie, mash and liquor was traditional London working class food.
In Victorian times eels were swimming in the river Thames in abundance, hence the pies sold in pie houses started their life as eel pies. The liquor was made from the water used to stew the eels, the green colour was due to the addition of parsley.
Eventually a minced beef and cold water pastry pie and mash were added to the menu, nowadays customers tend to like a meat pie and mash with a side serving of stewed eels and liquor. Infact pie and mash has become de rigueur amongst the urban professionals, along with other working class food such as liver and bacon and pork belly.
Recently my brother and sister in law came to stay with us for a weekend and we had some hugely disappointing meals out. We did the country pub, the restaurant on the seafront and in desperation even ate in our local Beefeater. None of the meals we ate were homemade, at best we got a half decent steak served with dry oven chips and frozen peas, at worst we got pre-plated meals straight out of the microwave.
Conversation turned (naturally given the circumstances) to how hard it is to find decent restaurant/pub food these days. One meal that never disappoints David or Sally is pie, mash and liquor which they eat at Goddards pie house in Greenwich. Like most pie houses, Goddards is a family run business which has been handed down through the generations and has been serving pie and mash since 1890. Well, as they say: 'you can take the girl out of London, but you can't take London out of the girl' so a trip to my brothers, and Goddards is imminent!
Meanwhile I decided to make a minced beef pie which was utterly delicious. Homemade pie is the ultimate comfort food and so simple to make, especially now you can buy all types of ready made pastry. I used good quality organic beef mince but this was still a very economical meal which served 4.
Minced beef pie
Recipe
1lb good quality, organic minced beef
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
400ml red wine or stout
1 pint beef or chicken stock
2 teaspoons English mustard
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Large handful carrot batons
Salt and pepper
1 packet puff pastry
1 egg
Put the oil into a large pan on a high heat, add onions and mince, season and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add the wine and reduce
Add mustard and Worcestershire sauce, mix well
Add stock and stir
Add carrot batons, turn the heat down very low, pop a lid on and cook for 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 180c/gas 4
Ladle meaty stew into a pie dish and allow to cool
Dust a clean surface with flour and roll pastry to about 1cm thick and a little bit bigger than your pie dish
Beat egg and use some to eggwash the edges of the pie dish
Carefully place pastry on top of pie dish, trim any overhanging pastry and squash the edges of the pastry to the dish
Eggwash the top
Cook the pie at the bottom of the hot oven for around 40 minutes or until your pastry is puffed and golden
Serve with steamed drained peas and buttery mash
'If someone is very upper class, you have a stereotype of him which is probably true. If someone has a working class accent, you have no idea who you're talking to.'
- Michael Caine
Love Donna xxxxxx
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