This classic Scottish recipe consisting of beef, beef sausages and onion cooked slowly in beef stock, topped with puff pastry and baked in the oven forms the centerpiece of the traditional New Year's Eve meal. It is usually served with swede or rutabaga and carrots puréed together and mashed potatoes (‘neeps and tatties’)
Hogmanay Celebrations
New Year’s Eve or ‘Hogmanay’ is still celebrated as an important festival in Scotland, with long-standing traditions attached to it. Celebrations do not usually start until late in the evening and this meal is served immediately after the New Year has been appropriately toasted at midnight. Duly fortified with this hearty fare, the revelers will then celebrate late into the small hours of the morning, frequently followed by a party at someone’s house and, later in the day, journeying from house to house carrying Black Bun and whisky to share with the household to bring luck and prosperity in the New Year, a custom known as ‘first footing’.
How to Make Scottish Steak Pie
- 1 tbsp (15ml) of vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 lb (454g) of stewing beef or beef skirt, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 8 oz (225g) beef sausages
- 3 tbsp (45g) of plain flour
- pinch of salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 1 tbsp (15ml) of powdered beef bouillon
- enough hot water to cover the meat
- 1 tablespoon (15g) of black pepper
- 1 lb of puff pastry for the lid
- Pre-heat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
- Heat the oil in the base of a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven; then add the onions and fry for about 3 minutes, or until just soft.
- Season the flour with a little salt & black pepper; then coat the pieces of beef in this.
- Add the floured pieces of beef to the pot and fry for a few minutes until browned all over.
- Add the powdered beef bouillon (or a crumbled beef stock cube) and enough hot water to cover the meat; then stir in a tablespoon of black pepper.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover the pot. Transfer to the oven and cook slowly at 300°F (150°C) for 2 hours. Check the dish after 1 hour and then after a further 30 minutes to ensure that it is not drying out and add more water to the pot if necessary.
- After the beef has cooked for 2 hours, cut up each beef sausage into three pieces and add them to the casserole. Top-up the liquid level, replace the lid and return it to the oven to cook for a further 60 minutes. Stir the pot after 30 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the oven and carefully pour the beef mixture into an oblong pie dish or 8 x 12" (20 x 30cm) casserole dish.
- Roll out the pasry into an oblong approx 10 x 14" (25 x 35cm). Cut off a 1" (2.5cm) strip all round and use this to line the edge of the dish with a border of pastry. Then place an inverted egg cup in the middle of the dish (this helps keep the pastry lid up).
- Brush the pastry around the edge with a little milk and then cover the meat with the the remaining 8 x 12" (20 x 30cm) sheet of pastry before crimping around the edges with a fork.
- Trim the edges neatly and make a couple of slashes in the top to allow steam to escape. Form any left-over pastry into leaf shapes to decorate the top of the pie, if desired.
- Place the pie in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned and the filling is piping hot.
- For the traditional Hogmanay meal, serve with creamy mashed potatoes, puréed swede or rutabaga and additional gravy, if desired.
Martin Cross - A translator, former chef and marketeer, currently disabled. I write articles on food,, travel, politics, religion and technology.
