Recipe: Beef Pot Pies for Freezing

Beef Pot Pies For Freezing

This recipe was developed by Consumers' Union for an August 1975 Consumers' Reports report on frozen individual-serve pot pies. It was the only pie judged excellent by their taste testers. This recipe makes eight pies and can be doubled. The published recipe notes that the ingredients cost was around $0.48 per pie (in 1975 US dollars). Notes Following Recipe By: Kenneth Herron

Filling
2 Lb. stew beef
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Medium onion
1/2 Clove garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 Cubes beef bouillon
6 Cups water
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
med potatoes
1 c carrots
1 c frozen peas

Crust
2 c flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c vegetable shortening (not oil)
6 tbsp. water

Filling
Cut stew beef into 1/2-inch cubes. Dice the onion and mince the garlic.

Heat oil in a pot large enough to contain all ingredients, including the water. While it heats, coat beef with flour. Brown beef a few pieces at a time, removing each piece as it browns.

Add onion and garlic to pan drippings and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn transparent.

Add water and bouillon, then all other ingredients except the vegetables. Cover and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and allow to cook around 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

While this cooks, chop potatoes and carrots into 1/4-1/2-inch chunks. At the end of the simmering time, stir in these ingredients and simmer 20 minutes more. Add peas and simmer 7 minutes more. Check beef and vegetables for tenderness and simmer longer if necessary.

Crust

Sift flour and salt into a 4-quart bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or two knives until reduced to pieces about the size of peas.

Sprinkle water over the flour, one tbsp. at a time, and stir in. Stop when dough is moist but not sticky.

Gather dough into a ball and divide into 8 pieces.

Assembling the pies:

Obtain 8 aluminum foil tart pans (they specify 5 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches tall; this size doesn't seem to be available any more). Divide the filling evenly among the pans; each pan should end up not quite full (chunks of food can stick up a bit above the top).

For each pie, roll out a piece of dough between two sheets of wax paper until it just covers the top of the pan. Peel it out of the waxed paper, place it on top of the pan, and pinch the crust around the edges so that it adheres. Punch a few holes in the center with a fork and lightly dust with flour.

Place each pan in a freezer bag and freeze.

Cooking a pie:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place still-frozen pie(s) on a cookie sheet and bake 40-45 minutes or until crust is well browned.

Notes:

There's nothing magic about this crust recipe; if you have another you'd rather use, go ahead. Personally I'd prefer a bottom crust as well, but assembling the pies is mind-bogglingly tedious as it is.

For those who have trouble making crusts, the tricky step is cutting in the shortening. The intent is to break up the shortening into small pieces, each coated with flour. Once this is done, handling can smoosh the pieces together but shouldn't totally disrupt the shortening/flour structure; it's this layering that makes the crust flaky.

I find that the beef tends to absorb the oil during the browning phase and that I have to use extra oil to complete the step, let alone have any drippings left over. Maybe your average beef is leaner these days...

I find that the filling isn't always hot in the center after the baking period, but then we keep the pies in a deep freeze; check this the first few times by sticking a fork into the center of the pie, pulling it out, and seeing how hot the tines are.

Last time I made these I substituted lamb for the beef and celery for the peas (my wife doesn't like peas). Turned out fine. I'd be interested in successful chicken or turkey versions of the filling.

I recall CR publishing a letter a few months later by someone questioning the amount of water used in the filling. Their response was that the recipe used extra water because the pies are intended to be frozen before baking. If you intend to bake these without freezing first, the filling should be a *very* thick gravy.