Beef and beer pie
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Sam Folan
Beef and beer pie
Recipe by Anna Glover
A simple and hearty beef pie that’s easy to make, and doesn’t need hours of slow cooking. The crisp suet pastry makes it utterly delicious
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
895Kcal
Fat
48gr
Saturates
24gr
Carbs
72gr
Sugars
9gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
36gr
Salt
1.8gr
Anna Glover
Anna is our former Creative Food Editor, and a cookery writer and food stylist. She loves a challenge and is known for whipping up interesting flavour combinations. She’s still in search of the best pizza in the world
See more of Anna Glover’s recipes
Anna Glover
Anna is our former Creative Food Editor, and a cookery writer and food stylist. She loves a challenge and is known for whipping up interesting flavour combinations. She’s still in search of the best pizza in the world
See more of Anna Glover’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 x 500g pack beef mince
- 1 large onion, grated
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 x 500-550ml bottle brown ale (we used Newcastle Brown)
- 1 beef stock cube
- 2 white potatoes (about 400g), peeled and cut into 2cm dice
For the pastry
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tbsp thyme leaves, plus 3 sprigs
- 100g vegetarian suet
- 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
Step by step
Get ahead
Freeze the assembled pie. Cook from frozen, adding 20-30 minutes to the cooking time.
- For the pastry, put the flour, thyme leaves, suet, a pinch of salt and 100ml chilled water in a food processor and pulse until it forms a ball. (Or do this by hand in a bowl with a knife.) Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Break up the mince in a frying pan with a spatula, and fry over a medium heat until browned. Add the onion and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the flour and Worcestershire sauce, stir, and add the ale, stock cube and thyme sprigs. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has thickened and looks shiny. Add a splash of water, if it thickens too much. Season well and remove from the heat. Leave to cool to room temperature.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 8-10 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander. Heat the oven to 200 ̊C, fan 180 ̊C, gas 6.
- Tip the cooled filling into a fairly shallow pie dish, about 25cm wide x 5cm deep, removing the thyme sprigs. Stir in the potatoes.
- Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface until just bigger than the pie dish. Brush a little beaten egg around the lip of the dish, then lay the pastry over the top. Trim the edges, and brush with the remaining beaten egg.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until piping hot when a skewer or sharp knife is pierced in the middle, and the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. Serve with horseradish sauce and mashed carrots and swede, if you like.
