BRITISH Pie Week ends today. My dad loved a pie and pint in his favourite pub, on Edinburgh’s Rose Street, where he loved to meet his pals for a catch-up. A hot meat pie from the butcher’s, warmed in the oven and served with baked beans, was my mum’s idea of convenience food and as children, we loved nothing more than tucking in to one with its unique, crunchy, thin crust and tasty filling. It was a rare treat then and remains a very occasional, but irresistible, indulgence.

Mutton pies are perhaps the variety most associated with Scots. Eaten before, after or during a football or rugby match, washed down with a beer, they are almost an obligatory means of warding off the cold and damp and raising the spirits high. A hand-raised meat pie, made with a hot-water-crust pastry, is an historic ingredient in our culinary heritage. Perhaps the original fast foods, they were sold in shops, taverns and on city streets by pie men.

Many Scottish butchers still take pride in making their own pies and are renowned locally for doing so. The range stretches far beyond traditional mutton pies, to steak pies with puff pastry tops, to flaky mince rounds, hand-raised pork pies and many others with all types of fillings, including wild game. Family bakers also take pride in pie-making.

A grand steak pie with a flaky pastry topping, remains the favourite choice of many families for a celebratory meal on New Year’s Day, the tradition stemming from the days when they took their pies to be cooked communally in the local baker’s large, hot oven.

Making a hot water crust is very different from other pastry-making and takes a little bit of time and concentration. Unlike Shortcrust Pastry, the lard is melted with the water and poured into the flour while hot. The pastry is then pulled together and lightly kneaded before cutting and shaping around a mould. This could be an individual metal ring sitting on a metal baking sheet, or a modern, deep muffin tray. My success story with making good pie moulds has always been to use empty jam jars. The pastry is then chilled around the mould before easing out and filling with the prepared meat and gravy. Reserved pastry is cut into rounds to make the tops, crimped into place to seal the pie completely, and then baked in a hot oven. The unique characteristic of a water crust pastry is that it can securely contain the meat juices, or gravy, without leaking.

In the early days of The Three Chimneys, I always had a pie on the menu. I would make these in individual ceramic pie dishes, baking them to order, having prepared the filling and the pastry tops beforehand. I made venison, rabbit and even beef and oyster pie, all with ordinary shortcrust pastry. This is the easiest pastry to make at home and is extremely versatile. With a bit of practice, you will be able to adapt the recipe and put it to use in all sorts of ways, from sweet mince pies at Christmas, to chicken, leek and mushroom pie, using the leftovers from a Sunday roast. You can even encourage some family baking by using the pastry trimmings to make jam tarts. You can, of course, buy ready-made pastry for convenience, but it is always good to have a go.

For the pie filling, I used Skye Black from the Isle of Skye Brewery, a rich and fruity dark ale made with malted barley, rolled roasted oats and heather honey. However, there are many local brewers creating hand-crafted ales in Scotland, so feel free to choose your own particular favourite.

Steak and Ale Pie

(Serves 4)

For the Shortcrust Pastry

250g plain white flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling

125g cooking lard, just workable and coming to room temperature, plus a tiny bit extra for greasing the rim of the pie dish

¼ tsp table salt

100ml cold water (approx) kept chilled in a jug in the refrigerator

1 egg for glazing the pastry

For the pie filling

500g good quality, Scotch braising steak

1 medium onion, washed, peeled and chopped small

1 small leek, washed and chopped to a similar size as the onion

1 medium stick of celery taken from the inside of a bunch, plus a few leaves, chopped to a similar size as above

2 fat cloves garlic, crushed

4 sprigs of thyme leaves stripped from the stalks

1 heaped tbsp plain white flour

Ground sea salt and black pepper

2 tbsp Scottish rapeseed oil

50g salted butter

275ml dark ale

Method

1. Sieve flour and salt into a mixing bowl.

2. Chop lard into small cubes and using fingertips rub into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Add cold water, a splash at a time, and mix into the flour using the rounded blade of a knife, with a cutting action. Continue to add water a little at a time until the mixture begins to pull together.

4. Using your fingertips, pull the mixture together to make a soft, pliable dough. It should form a ball and leave the sides of the mixing bowl clean. The dough should not be too dry, nor wet or sticky to handle.

5. Dust a clean work surface with sieved flour and knead the dough until it is rounded and smooth. Do not over-work the dough. Gently does it.

6. Wrap dough in cling film and place in refrigerator to rest. This can be done overnight, but remember to bring the cold dough to room temperature before trying to roll it out and shape it.

7. To make the pie; cut the steak into bite-sized pieces. Sieve the flour, salt and pepper together on to a large flat dish or plate. Toss the pieces of steak in the flour until well-coated.

8. Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Add the meat in batches, tossing in the hot oil until browned all over. Remove and return to the dish. Using the same pan, add the butter and once melted, add the chopped vegetables, crushed garlic and thyme leaves. Turn in the hot butter, cook until softnthen return meat to vegetable mixture.

9. Pour in the dark ale and as it heats through, stir occasionally, as it thickens. Add a little more ale from the bottle if the mixture seems too thick, but remember that a pie filling should have a thick gravy. Check the seasoning. The ale will taste strong, but mellows with cooking.

10. Place the whole mixture into a casserole dish and place in a pre-heated oven to cook slowly for a minimum of 1 hour 30 minutes, at 180°C, Gas Mark 4. Remove from the oven and test the meat to ensure it is soft and well-cooked. Set aside to cool. This stage can be done the day before, in which case, refrigerate the cooked meat overnight, once it is cooled. Bring to room temperature before making up the pie.

11. To finish the pie: heat the oven to 190°C, Gas Mark 5. Take a medium-size pie dish, with a flat pie rim, capable of holding approximately 650mls or about 24cm in length or diameter.

12. Dust a clean work surface with sieved plain white flour and roll out the pastry, a little larger than your pie dish. Fill the pie dish with the meat filling. Grease the rim of the dish. Place the pastry topping over the dish and trim to fit the dish with a sharp knife. Brush the rim of the pastry with a whisked egg. Brush one side of the pastry trimming and place this, egg side to egg, on top of the pastry rim and press together all round with your thumb and forefinger to form a thicker edge for your pie crust. Trim the edge again to make a neat finish.

13. Finally, brush the whole pie crust with whisked egg and make a slit in the centre for steam to escape. Decorate the surface with leaf shapes or similar, if you wish. Place on a flat baking sheet in the centre of the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until piping hot and golden brown. Serve immediately with creamy mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, turnips and curly kale.

Shirley Spear is owner of The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By on the Isle of Skye www.threechimneys.co.uk