Welcome to the 2nd Annual Pieathalon! This year, even more retro bloggers have traded pie recipes, and now you get to enjoy the results.
- Yinzerella Dinner is Served 1972
- The Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en Web Series
- Saucy Cherie at cookbookcherie.wordpress.com
- Our old friend Dr. Bobb of Dr. Bobb’s Kitschen
- Yesterday’s Menus
- Ashley at A Pinch of Vintage
- Bittersweet Susie
- Battenburgbelle
- Kelli from Kelli’s Kitchen
- Erica Retrochef from Retro Recipe Attempts
- Taryn from Retro Food For Modern Times
- Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers
- Clara at Heritage Recipe Box
- Poppy of Grannie Pantries
- S. S. of A Book of Cookrye
- RetroRuth from Mid-Century Menu
- Sarah at Directionally Challenged Cooking
- Mandee from Vintage Recipe Cards
The Retro Recipe household got to try Steak and Mushroom Pie, contributed to the Pieathalon by Battenburgbelle. It’s from the 1955 edition of A Good Housekeeping Cookery Compendium.
Steak and Mushroom Pie Follow the directions given on page 40 for Rabbit Pie, but use 1 1/2 lb. beefsteak and 4 oz. mushrooms for filling.
Steak and Mushroom Pie is a short recipe, but let’s refer to the recipe for rabbit pie…
Rabbit Pie 1/2 lb. flaky pastry 1 small rabbit Seasoned flour 1 hard-boiled egg 1-2 rashers bacon Forcemeat balls (p. 78) Chopped parsley Stock or water Egg to glaze 1. Make pastry. Dip rabbit joints in seasoned flour (mix 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1 tbsp. flour). 2. Put rabbit, chopped egg, cut-up bacon, forcemeat and parsley in dish, and half-fill with liquid. 3. Put a strip of pastry round dampened rim of dish, moisten strip, cover, and flake the edges. 4. Scallop edges boldly, make a slit for steam to escape, decorate, and glaze with beaten egg.
Oh, I see, it bounces me to yet another recipe…
Forcemeat Stuffing and Balls
4 oz. breadcrumbs 2 oz. suet 1-2 oz. bacon or ham (optional) 2 tsps. chopped parsley Rind of 1/2 a lemon 1/4 tsp mixed herbs Salt and pepper Beaten egg 1. Make the breadcrumbs by rubbing stale bread on a wire sieve; discard crusts. 2. Chop the suet, if necessary, also bacon or ham, if used, and the parsley. Grate the lemon rind. 3. Mix all the ingredients together with a little beaten egg, until the stuffing will bind well. 4. Forcemeat balls should be neatly shaped, rolled in a little flour and fried or baked till brown.
WELL. Now that we’ve finally compiled an extensive shopping list and have all three recipes open on the laptop, let’s start putting everything together!
Hahaha, whoops, how did that rabbit get in the photo? 😉
One thing that I couldn’t get hold of was suet. We called a couple of local butcher shops and none sold suet; butter sounded like a reasonable substitute, so into the weird stuffing thing it went.
It was crazy assembling this. Delicious steak. Nice mushrooms. Then eggs… bacon… stuffing balls? It was something of a relief to cover it all with pastry and hide it in the oven.
“Well, crap. I forgot to add the liquid.” “What?” “It was supposed to have broth or something in it. I was looking at the wrong recipe when putting it together. Uh, should we eat it anyway?” “… Do you really want to cook it again?” We ate the pie.
Overall, this was a complicated and strange pie. The steak and mushrooms were rich and delicious. The bacon and eggs were OK, but not terribly special. The forcemeat stuffing balls were rather unpleasant, though, and their flavor didn’t go well with the beef. (Rabbit tastes more like chicken, and a meaty stuffing might be better with that.) But most importantly, we had fun making it. Swapping recipes with friends is awesome — and a big THANKS to Yinzerella for organizing it! Go enjoy the rest of the Pieathalon participants!
Hi Erica, I was soo looking forward to reading your recipe because steak and mushroom pie is one of my favourite meat pies. Maybe because the ones I have eaten are pretty much just steak and mushroom – no bacon, no eggs, no forcemeat…overall I think you nailed it with complicated and strange! xx
By: tarynnicole on June 8, 2015
at 12:28 pm
Keeping it simple would have solved things 😀
By: Erica Retrochef on June 10, 2015
at 10:25 am
[…] Erica Retrochef from Retro Recipe Attempts – Steak and Mushroom Pie […]
By: White Christmas Pie for the 2nd Annual Pieathalon - Kelli's Kitchen on June 8, 2015
at 2:51 pm
Hmmmm….. the steak and mushrooms together sound great as well as bacon and egg pie and some stuffing with maybe a turkey cranberry pie but if you put all those together? I’m not sure but you sure did an admirable job!
By: kalamitykelli on June 8, 2015
at 2:54 pm
Maybe it would have been better with rabbit? No idea! 🙂
By: Erica Retrochef on June 10, 2015
at 10:25 am
That recipe looked really good right up to the stuffing balls (which just seem weird anyway). And wouldn’t pouring stock into it after cooking have just make the whole thing soggy anyway?
By: S. S. on June 8, 2015
at 6:44 pm
[…] Erica Retrochef from Retro Recipe Attempts made Steak and Mushroom Pie! […]
By: Cheese Pie, 1930 – Second Annual Pieathalon Challenge! - The Mid-Century Menu on June 8, 2015
at 6:52 pm
[…] Erica Retrochef from Retro Recipe Attempts made Steak and Mushroom Pie! […]
By: Cheese Pie, 1930 – Second Annual Pieathalon Challenge! - The Mid-Century Menu on June 8, 2015
at 6:56 pm
I admire your tenacity. Referencing three recipes is a bit much page turning for one dish.
By: Heather on June 8, 2015
at 7:05 pm
[…] Erica Retrochef at Retro Recipe Attempts: Steak & Mushroom Pie […]
By: Pieathalon! | Yesterday's Menus on June 8, 2015
at 7:40 pm
I’m impressed!
By: Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en on June 8, 2015
at 9:41 pm
I’m grateful I got your recipe! It was actually good– and a lot less complicated than this one. I would have made the same call if I’d forgotten to add the broth! Once you get that far, it’s time to say, “Close enough!”
By: Poppy Crocker on June 8, 2015
at 11:08 pm
Ha — next year I’m hoping for a sweet pie, not a savory 🙂
By: Erica Retrochef on June 10, 2015
at 10:25 am
hahahha – it’s like breakfast lunch and dinner ALL IN ONE!
By: Bittersweet Susie on June 9, 2015
at 4:17 am
Stuffing balls.
I’m bummed that they weren’t good.
You’re a champ!
By: Yinzerella on June 9, 2015
at 12:28 pm
Stuffing balls should have been AMAZING. (Or amazeballs. That’s appropriate in this context.) I was bummed too.
By: Erica Retrochef on June 10, 2015
at 10:24 am
The stuffing balls probably suffered the most from our having forgotten the liquid. They ought to have softened up more with the broth.
By: Buzz on June 10, 2015
at 10:40 am
Looks good.
By: Schteveo on July 6, 2015
at 12:30 am