A minor fest

Following the steak and kidney pie noticed at reference 1, thought to have another go. Gave the fairly new butcher at Manor Green Road a couple of days notice this time to make sure he had the necessary supply of pigs' kidneys, which I prefer to the lambs' recommended by the recipes. A bit more bite to them. So about a pound of beef and two kidneys, which in the event was just about right.

Action started at around 12:15, with forks down set for 14:00. Ten minutes late in the event.

Used the guts of the recipe for Canadian meat pie again. So started with frying the thinly sliced onion in a little cooking oil. After a bit, added the meat and fried that for a bit, stirring from time to time, maybe for 10 or 15 minutes. 

Quite a lot of water had come out of the meat by then, but added another half pint or so. Brought to heat and left to simmer for about an hour. At which point I turned off the heat and drained off the liquor, between half a pint and a pint of it. Roux'd up an ounce and a half of butter with the same amount of flour and stirred in the liquor. Which then tasted rather good. Doing it this way round gives good texture control and makes it much less likely that it is all going to stick to the bottom of the pan.

In the background, mashed potato and brussels sprouts on the go. Drained a little of the potato water into the gravy, slightly too thick for my taste.

Thought about mushrooms - bought from Costcutter just in case - but decided against. A taste and a texture too far.

Shortly before serving, poured about half the gravy back over the meat and brought it back to heat. Other half of the gravy jugged up for BH who likes lots of the stuff. All served, along with a little of Waitrose's Fleurie, which seems to suit us well.

Altogether a very satisfactory outcome, with the small amount of meat left over, reheated in the microwave and served on brown bread half an hour or so ago. 

Giant plums from Sainsbury's stewed for dessert. A pity that restaurants do not see fit to serve such things.

PS 1: in the course of turning up the recipe, I found that the north American idea of shepherds' (or cottage) pie is rather different to ours. The Boston recipe was a layer of mashed potato on the bottom of the pie dish, then a thick layer of chunked, cooked meat and then another layer of potato. Just a little gravy to moisten the meat. Also talk of lemon juice, of which I do not approve at all.

PS 2: I have just been sent an email advertisement for an entire sucking pig, including pictures of one cooked and one raw. Something over £100. Silly, given that I quite like meat, but I found both pictures rather off-putting, this despite a gourmet landowner in Gogol's famous book 'Dead Souls' explaining that he liked to be served the whole pig, all for himself. Can't see me ever buying such a thing.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/01/new-years-pie.html.