Lets talk turkey (food discussion)

[TotalyMeow]

I finally perfected my version of the meat pie recipe from the book I told you all about, so here it is:

You'll be making three things, the crust, the force meat, and the filling.

Start with the crust.

2 cups water
1/2lb (2 sticks) butter
1/2lb lard (I recommend actual lard, not crisco)
9 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt

Heat the 2 cups of water and add the butter and lard. Wait for them to melt. Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt. When it's fully melted, pour the water into the flour and mix. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed several times until smooth. Place in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth, let it rest for 30 minutes.

Start preparing the force meat.

3/4 lb ground veal and 1/4 lb bacon. Or, 1/2 lb of each. You can use ground chicken if you don't like veal. You can use solid veal and chop it up if you can't find ground.
1/4 lb mushrooms
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1-1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 egg
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh savory
If you can't find fresh, use half as much dried herb
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
pinch of cayenne

Chop the bacon and mushrooms (and veal if necessary) very fine. Mix it together with all the other ingredients and leave in a bowl until you're ready for it. This can also be made a day ahead of time.

When the crust is finished resting, leave 1/4 of the crust in the bowl in a warm place with the damp cloth; take out about 3/4 of it and place in a pan. I suggest a cookie sheet with a layer of tin foil folded upward to help contain possible leaks. This is a raised pie, so you won't be using the walls of the pan to help you; it'll be free-standing. Mold the walls of the crust upward like a grade school art project until they are about 3 inches tall. Try very hard to not make a hole or seam anywhere as a weak point can break open while cooking. Place the crust in the fridge for one hour. If your crust was too soft and not standing up very well, you can pull it out after about 30 to 45 minutes and mold it a bit more.

Next, the filling.

1/4 lb mushrooms, quartered
1 large bulb of fennel (sweet anise), chopped, or onion if you prefer
2 teaspoons butter or olive oil
1 lb chicken, diced
ground beef, as needed
flour for dredging
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (or the rest of the lemon)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
use 1/2 as much if you can't find fresh herbs
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water for egg wash

1 cup chicken or beef broth

Saute the fennel and mushrooms in the butter or oil until soft and remove from heat. Dredge the diced chicken in flour. Combine the chicken, fennel, and mushrooms in a bowl. Add the herbs and spices and mix well. Remove the crust from the fridge and spread a layer of force meat along the bottom and sides of the crust. It's important to get a solid layer on the sides to help prevent the crust from breaking open. Add the filling. If there isn't enough to fill the pie, you can roll some bite sized balls of ground beef, dredge them in flour, and add to the filling. Make a hole in the middle of the filling and a few channels out towards the sides so that when you pour in the broth later, it will have somewhere to go. Add the remaining force meat to the top.

Around this time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Bring out the last of the crust from the bowl and roll it out on a floured board until it is large enough to fit over the pie. Trim it to be just a bit larger than the pie and cut a circle in the center. Brush the egg wash around the edge and outside of the bottom crust. Lift the top crust up and place it over the pie. For best results, fold it in half on the board, pick it up, place it on the pie, and then unfold. Pinch around the edges to seal. Roll out any remaining crust and cut shapes to decorate the pie with. Brush egg wash over the top crust, add the shapes, and brush more egg wash over the tops of the decorations.

If the oven isn't fully heated, wait for it to be before continuing. Heat the broth almost to boiling and use a funnel to pour it into the hole in the center of the pie. It probably won't all go in; be careful not to let it overflow. The hot broth will begin to melt the crust, so immediately place the pie in the oven to start it cooking on the outside.

Bake 15 minutes at 450 and then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake another 1 hour and 15 minutes. Make lemonade from the now rindless lemon, it won't last a day if you don't use it.

Traditionally, the crust isn't eaten on one of these pies, but it is edible in this version. I usually serve the top crust and scoop out the filling, leaving the bottom crust. There should be 6 to 8 servings worth of pie.

Edit: The whole thing takes about 4 hours to make including the baking and any waiting you have to do for the crust to finish resting or chilling, so plan accordingly.

[Dallane]

Damn that sounds amazing.

[saltmummy]

Traditionally, the crust isn't eaten on one of these pies, but it is edible in this version.

Aw, the crust is the best part D:
Looks good. Very hearty.

[TotalyMeow]

Traditionally, the crust isn't eaten on one of these pies, but it is edible in this version.

Aw, the crust is the best part D:
Looks good. Very hearty.

Oh I agree, I love the crust and often add some of the side crust to my bowl too. The reason it wasn't usually eaten is because it was used to preserve the contents, like canned meat. They would bake a cork-shaped extra piece of crust and stick it in the vent hole after the cooking was done. That's also why you do one center hole instead of fluting it. Then, so long as you did it right and the crust didn't leak in the baking, it could sit on a shelf for a week or two and still be safe to eat on the inside, though the outside might be dusty or moldy.

[saltmummy]

Oh I agree, I love the crust and often add some of the side crust to my bowl too. The reason it wasn't usually eaten is because it was used to preserve the contents, like canned meat. They would bake a cork-shaped extra piece of crust and stick it in the vent hole after the cooking was done. That's also why you do one center hole instead of fluting it. Then, so long as you did it right and the crust didn't leak in the baking, it could sit on a shelf for a week or two and still be safe to eat on the inside, though the outside might be dusty or moldy.

Fascinating. It always surprises me how long food can last if prepared the right way. I know about smoking and jerky and that, but stuff like meat pies? Naw. Very interesting.

[Kandarim]

my god I want to try that, but reasonably I won't have the patience or time to do the full thing.
I do wonder how crucial the broth is: I prefer to have my meat pies on the dry side, and there looks to be plenty of taste in there to start with.
I'll definitely be experimenting with meat pies in the near future

[Dallane]

my god I want to try that, but reasonably I won't have the patience or time to do the full thing.
I do wonder how crucial the broth is: I prefer to have my meat pies on the dry side, and there looks to be plenty of taste in there to start with.
I'll definitely be experimenting with meat pies in the near future

Meat pies are awesome to experiment with. You can save a ton of time if you don't make the crust yourself and get it from the store.

I've been using this youtube channel and everything has turned out really great.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxr2d4 ... lcajAkKJYw

I'm going to make this next:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55M_AijtbCY

[Kandarim]

also, please l2metric system. 'Cups' is an incredibly annoying measurement if, after some googling, it turns out to have different sizes in different countries.
Hell, turns out even the US has two different 'cups': customary and legal.

[TotalyMeow]

also, please l2metric system. 'Cups' is an incredibly annoying measurement if, after some googling, it turns out to have different sizes in different countries.
Hell, turns out even the US has two different 'cups': customary and legal.

For cooking in the US, where I am, you want a customary cup. I didn't even know there was more than one. A cup would be 236.8 mL, a Tablespoon is 14.8 mL, and a teaspoon is 1/3 that.

[Kandarim]

thanks no more excuses to get 'round to it, anymore