Scottish Steak Pie Gravy

Steak pie on New Year's Day is a fixture in Scotland, ordered from the butcher in a foil tray and finished at home. The filling matters more than the pastry and the gravy matters most of all. It should be dark, thick enough to hold the meat together, and just short of sticky. This is the braise and the gravy in one, so you can either bake it under puff pastry or serve it over mash.

Ingredients

Makes about 700ml of gravy with the beef in it

• 900g (2lb) beef shin or chuck cut into 4cm chunks
• 3 tbsp plain flour seasoned, for coating the beef
• 2 tbsp beef dripping
• 2 medium onions sliced thickly
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 500ml (18fl oz) beef stock
• 200ml (7fl oz) Scottish ale a dark 70 shilling if you can get one
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp soft dark brown sugar
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Casserole with a lid
• Tongs
• Slotted spoon

Method

1. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour so every piece is dusted. Shake off the loose flour, otherwise it burns in the pan and turns the gravy bitter.

2. Heat the dripping in a casserole over a high heat and brown the beef in three batches, about 3 minutes a side, until each piece has a proper crust. Crowding the pan steams the meat and you lose the whole flavour base, so be patient and use tongs.

3. Lower the heat, add the onions to the same pan and cook for 8 minutes, scraping the brown stuff off the base as they release their moisture. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Pour in the ale and let it bubble hard for 3 minutes to boil off the raw alcohol, still scraping. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and sugar, then return the beef and any juices.

5. Bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook on the hob at the lowest setting or in the oven at 150C fan for 2½ hours. Check at 2 hours: the beef should pull apart under a fork but still hold as chunks, not shreds.

6. Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon. Boil the liquid hard, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes until it has reduced by about a third and coats the back of a spoon thickly. This is where the flour from the coating finally does its job.

7. Return the beef, season carefully with salt and plenty of black pepper, and let it sit off the heat for 10 minutes. The gravy should be glossy and thick enough that a spoonful of the mix holds a shape on the plate. If you are making a pie, cool it completely before the pastry goes on, or the base goes to soup.

Tips worth knowing

• Shin is the right cut. It is full of connective tissue that melts into gelatine and gives the gravy that lip sticking body no amount of flour can fake.
• Make it the day before. Overnight in the fridge the gravy firms up, the flavours settle, and it is far easier to spoon into a pie dish without flooding it.
• If it is still thin after reducing, mash a tablespoon of soft butter with a tablespoon of flour and whisk small lumps of it in. It thickens in a minute without a raw floury taste.
• Do not salt until the very end. Reducing by a third concentrates whatever salt was in the stock, and pies have been ruined at this exact step.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps 3 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months, meat and gravy together. Defrost fully before topping with pastry. Reheat to a proper simmer, adding stock if it has gone too stiff.

Questions people ask