When Rose H. recently shared a recipe for Vension Stew - Cooking with Wine, it brought to mind this recipe. So by request, the Meat Pie we make at the Blue Belle Inn. The pie crust is a family recipe, but I found the original recipe for the meat pie in a Williamsburg cookbook I bought years ago. I started making the recipe for our English meal because it tasted very similar to Game Pie I had at a pub in England when I first visited in 1979. The port wine and currant jelly give the sauce a wonderful flavor that compliments the wild game perfectly.
Grandma Lightly's Pie Crust
4 c. flour
2 c. shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vinegar
1 beaten egg
3/4 c. milk or water
Beat egg and add to liquid. Add vinegar and baking powder. Stir and add to flour / salt/ shortening mixture. Can be refrigerated 2 weeks.
Brown Sauce
1/4 c. butter
1 c. flour
1/2 c. tomato puree
2 qts. hot beef stock
1 Tbsp. beef bouillon powder
1 Tbsp. bottled brown gravy sauce
salt to taste
Melt butter; gradually add flour, stirring, until mixture is chestnut brown. Add puree and stir well. Gradually add hot stock and bouillon; use wire whisk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat as low as possible. Simmer two hours until sauce is reduced to 1 1/2 quarts. Add brown gravy sauce and salt. Remove from heat. Strain through a fine sieve or puree in blender. Refrigerate.
English Meat Pie
3 lbs. cubed venison, elk, or other wild game (or beef, but it's not as good)
2 lbs. rabbit, quail, or game hen pieces (or chicken, but it's not as good)
1 duckling
1 lb. bacon, cut in 1” pieces
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sauteed
2 1/2 c. Port wine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 c. currant jelly
1 15-oz. jar pearl onions
1 1/2 qts. brown sauce
Salt duck cavity. Place on rack in shallow roasting pan breast side up. Bake 30 min at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 325 degrees & bake until duck tests done. Sauté venison, elk, rabbit, quail, or chicken and beef in oil until brown; Transfer to roaster. Add wine, brown sauce & seasonings. Cover; bake in 350 degree oven 1 hr or more. Fry bacon pieces. Quarter mushrooms; sauté lightly in butter. When meat is very tender, drain off sauce & reserve. Line bottom of individual casseroles with pastry crust. Add meat, onions, & mushrooms. Add 1/2 to 3/4 c. sauce from meat. Top with pastry. Bake 25-30 min at 350 degrees until crust is golden.
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Comments: 24
Sounds great. I'm sure it's delicious. I'd love to come and enjoy your Blue Bell Inn one day and these wonderful food on your menu.
Thanks for sharing the recipe Sherrie
Mmm. Sounds delicious! :D
Sounds wonderful, Sherrie, and if I had the opportunity, I'd love to have you cook it for me. :) Wild game is just not in abundance at our house, and I wouldn't substitute beef for it. I don't really even like beef.
Sherrie - Good Morning to you! Your recipe sounds absolutely divine and very old style. I know where I am staying and what I'm having, if I ever end up in Iowa near your Blue Bell Inn:)
Thanks, for the plug and I'm printing this one out to add to my favorite cookbook. I never liked port wine until I had some really good port wine from Portugal, it made all the difference in the world.
Sherrie - something is wrong with the links - both links took me to your facebook account! I'm sending you an e-mail and a ping too.
Sorry Rose! I'm not sure what happened, but I have corrected the links and both appear to be working correctly now.
That sounds gret, Sherrie.
I like to make a raised game pie for the many picnics we take in the summer. Easy to transport and just the thing for my husband to take when he goes Munro-Bagging!
What, pray tell, is Munro-Bagging? :-)
Named after Sir Hugh Munro who first catalogued them, the Munros are Scots peaks over 3000 ft (not high by other countries peaks, but with our treacherous weather, some of them are decidedly hairy to climb!) People who 'bag' them (ie climb to the top) are called Munro-baggers. There are nearly 300 of them - and many climbers try to compleat (yes the spelling is correct) the task, known as a Compleation! There are also lower peak classifications, known as Corbetts and Grahams!
My husband has bagged most of the Munros - and intends to continue as long as he can or until lhe finishes the task!
Ah! So glad you explained. I never would have figured this one out. In Colorado, where I lived for 12 years, their is a group who attempts to climb all the "fourteeners", or peaks over 14,000. (Not as impressive a heighth as it sounds, as the mountains rise out of plains that are over a mile above sea level.) Some of the peaks are very dangerous to climb, others fairly simple. I have climbed one "fourteener", Pikes Peak. A good friend of mine has done them all. Quite an accomplishment - for your husband, too!
My husband has been Munro-bagging since he was a University student.
Frankly, I've just sat in a pub/restaurant at the foot of the Ben.... My exercise regime is taken care of by raising a glass or two each peak!
I'm with you, Ishbel. My climbing days are done. I remember seeing a lot of climbers when we were in Fort William. We enjoyed driving over /around the Ben and didn't feel at all guilty that I was riding in a nice, comfy car.
This looks wonderful!
(And a vast improvement over my recipe from Sweeney Todd!)
Sweeney Todd makes meat pies?
Well, let's just say he supplies the main ingredient... :-)
this sounds good
Thanks for posting this to Gather Recipe Review! This made my mouth water.
Sherrie, this looks wonderful. It made my mouth water just reading through the ingredients. It's certainly got interesting flavors going on!
oh this does sound good!
Someday I'm going to get to the Blue Belle Inn!
Sounds very yummy!! I'd love to visit too. I was in MN once for training for a company that is out of business now called Prints Plus.
It sounds delicious!
Ooh, this sounds delicious. Certainly rather up-market from the good old Meat'n'Tatty Pies we used to eat.