Recipes

Chosen from Recipes to Know by Heart by Xanthe Clay, she writes "Pies are about drama. Plunge the knife into the shiny gold top crust to let loose a rush of savoury, hunger-inducing steam and everyone's attention is grabbed. But what makes  areally good pie? Two things are key: a well-flavoured filling and good pastry."

Upper Crust and Double Crust
Homemade meat pies tend to be top-crust only and this is the method I've given for the basic recipe. If you do want to opt for a double crust, use shortcrust rather than puff pastry. The pastry for the bottom should be thinner than the top to give it a better chance of cooking through. Put a baking sheet in the oven to heat up and put the filled pie dish on to it so that the base gets some direct heat and cook the pie near the bottom of the oven, especially if it's a bottom heating one.
If you like the sort of pie with lots and lots of gravy, go for a top-pastry only option. To keep the top firmly on the dish, brush the rim of the pie dish with water or egg and fix on a narrow strip of pastry to reinforce the edge. Brush with more egg or water and lay the pastry lid over, pinching the edges together well.
Whether your pie is single or double crust, a pie funnel keeps the top pastry lifted high so it doesn't get saturated with juices or sag unappealingly. Kitchen shops sell them, or you can improvise with an upturned egg cup.
If making a double-cruster, keep the filling dryish or the pastry base will be soggy. If lots of sauce is needed, poke a funnel in the top at the end of cooking time. Pour in a little hot gravy or a mixture of cream and egg yolks.

The Pastry
It's crucial that the pastry is thoroughly cooked. The oven temperature must be at least 190C/375F to achieve this. Butter-only recipes havea  fantastic flavour but lard gives a light crumbly texture that's particularly delicious and very traditionally British. I choose a happy compromise of one part lard to three butter, which seems right for a meat pie.

The Filling
As for the filling, nothing is more disappointing than a bland pie. Be generous with aromatics and brown the meat in a pan first to make rich juices. Chicken can finish cooking with the pastry, but red meat needs cooking slowly to tenderness before the top goes on. Sounds like a casserole? Think of a pie as a casserole with theatre.

Gravy v White Sauce
The deep brown and savoury juices of a casserole are the perfect moistener, but for chicken and pork consider a creamy white sauce. This is especially useful when making a pie with the leftovers of a roast. Flavour the sauce with chopped tarragon, chervil or parsley if you like.

Serves 4

    Oil, for frying
    2 leeks or onions, sliced
    675g casseroling meat, cubed
    2 tbsp flour
    600ml stock
    225g puff or shortcrust pastry
    1 egg, beaten

Method

Fry the onions and meat: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and add the leeks or onions. Fry until golden, then scoop out and keep to one side. Toss the meat in the seasoned flour. Heat another 1 tbsp oil in the pan and brown the meat in batches, adding more oil if necessary.

Deglaze the pan: Tip half a teacupful (about 100ml) of stock into the empty pan and bring to the boil, stirring and scraping up all the gunk. Add the rest of the stock and whisk until smooth.

Simmer the meat: Tip the meat and this sauce into a flameproof casserole dish and simmer gently for 1-1.5 hours, until the meat is tender. Allow to cool.

Cover with pastry and bake: Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Tip the mixture into a pie dish just large enough to take it. Roll out the pastry a little larger than the top of the dish and cover the meat. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and slash it in a couple of places to make a steam vent. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and steaming hot.