A mouth-watering combination of steak, vegetables and beef gravy, covered with a classic suet pastry crust – made with Atora Beef Suet. This Traditional Suet Crust Steak Pie is utterly delicious and super simple to make. (Suet crust pastry is very easy to make and practically foolproof – so makes the perfect pie crust – even if you’re not usually very good with pastry!)
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Old fashioned steak pie
This delicious steak pie, which features a mouth-watering combination of slow cooked beef, vegetables and rich beef gravy, is topped with an ‘old school’ suet pastry crust, made with Atora Beef Suet. Exactly like I had when I was a child!
It may be ‘old school’, but classics are classics for a reason. Suet pastry makes the most wonderful pie crust – crisp on top like shortcrust pastry, but more the texture of a dumpling underneath – basically the best of both worlds!
What is suet crust pastry?
Suet crust pastry is a real British classic. It’s made by mixing self-raising flour, Atora beef suet, salt and water.
In fact, it’s the exact same mixture as you would use for Traditional Suet Dumplings. But instead of shaping it into little balls to make dumplings, you roll it out like pastry and pop it on top of a pie filling.
Suet crust pastry is very easy to make and practically foolproof – so makes the perfect pie crust – even if you’re not usually very good with pastry!
How to make Traditional Suet Crust Steak Pie
This Traditional Suet Crust Steak Pie is super simple to make.
First you need make a simple steak and vegetable pie filling. Mine contains onions, swede, carrots, diced stewing beef and beef gravy, which I slow cook in the oven for an hour and a half to ensure the beef is meltingly tender and the vegetables are deliciously flavoured with the gravy. (See the recipe card below for the full step-by-step instructions.)
While the pie filling is cooking, you can get on with making the pie crust. All you need to do is mix together flour, suet, salt and water to make a firm dough. Then roll the dough out and cut round your pie dish, keeping the offcuts! (I use this 26cm / 10inch Falcon Round Pie Dish.)
Next, transfer your pie filling to the dish, then brush the rim of your pie dish with beaten egg and cover the rim with pastry offcuts. Brush the pastry offcuts with more beaten egg and pop the rolled out pastry circle on top of the pie, then crimp the edges to attach the pie crust to the offcuts and make the pie look pretty.
Finally, brush the pastry lid all over with the beaten egg, then cut a small cross in the centre of the pie to allow the steam to escape. Place the pie into the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until the suet pie crust is a beautiful golden brown.
(There is an even easier way if you prefer. It’s not as pretty, but it’s good if you are short on time!)
What to serve with Suet Crust Steak Pie
This pie is a complete meal in it’s own right. But I like to serve it with extra veg. Especially green vegetables like broccoli, peas, green beans or cabbage.
If you are feeling the need for extra carbs, it’s also wonderful with mashed potatoes!
What to drink with Suet Crust Steak Pie
This beef pie is very wine friendly, and it works well with lots of different wines.
Good options include Côtes-du-Rhône (or other Syrah / Grenache based wines), Bordeaux reds, Rioja and similar Spanish reds, Duoro reds, Argentinian Malbec or US Zinfandel.
However, I definitely do not recommend pairing beef pie with white or rosé wines!
A very economical beef pie!
One of the things I love about this Suet Crust Steak Pie is it’s a very economical way to enjoy a beef pie. (Very helpful given the current economic climate!)
By packing this pie with lots of root veggies, you need much less beef – which is the expensive part of this meal. And suet crust is much cheaper than topping with shop-bought puff pastry… and a whole lot more filling!
You can make this meal go even further, by adding more root vegetables to the pie filling and/or serving this pie with mash.
What’s the best cut of beef for suet crust steak pie?
Continuing the frugal theme, I recommend using beef sold as ‘stewing beef’ or ‘diced beef’ in this suet crust pie. Not only is this usually much cheaper than beef sold as a whole steak, but the end result is much better too – these cheaper cuts really benefit from the longer slower cook, as they become more tender and they have a better flavour.
Make it your own
There are lots of ways to adapt this easy suet crust beef pie. You could:
- Add bacon for extra flavour (fry with the onions)
- Add mushrooms and/or leeks (fry with the onions)
- Add red wine or beer to give extra depth to the gravy
- Swap the carrots/swede for other root vegetables (parsnips, turnips and waxy potatoes all work well)
- Use diced lamb or diced chicken thigh instead of the diced beef (use lamb gravy / chicken gravy, as appropriate)
- Use diced pork instead of the beef and also add a small diced Bramley apple to the filling, to make a pork and apple pie (I like to use chicken gravy with this combination)
Finally, you could make a vegetarian/vegan version of this by swapping the meat for the same quantity of vegetables (I like to use a mix of mushrooms, leek, carrots, parsnips and swede), and using vegetable gravy and Atora Vegetable Suet.
Can you freeze suet crust steak pie?
You can, but I don’t recommend it. This pie tastes best made fresh!
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Traditional Suet Crust Steak Pie (Made With Atora Beef Suet)
Ingredients
Steak Pie Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 300 g swede peeled and chopped into bitesize chunks (roughly 1cm/½inch)
- 300 g carrots peeled and chopped into bitesize chunks (roughly 1cm/½inch)
- 500 g diced beef (usually sold as ‘diced beef’ or ‘stewing beef’ in supermarkets)
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 beef stock cube (I use Kallo Organic)
- 700 ml boiling water
Suet Pie Crust
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 125 g shredded suet (I use Atora Beef Suet)
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- Cold water
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F.
- Place the olive oil and onions in a flameproof, ovenproof pan. (See Notes 1 & 2.) Fry over a low heat, with the lid on, for 3 minutes, or until the onions are softened but not brown.
- Turn the heat up to high and add the swede and carrots. Fry for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are lightly browned.
- Meanwhile, make a quick gravy by putting the 2 tablespoons of cornflour and the crumbled beef stock cube into a large jug. Add a splash of cold water and stir to make a smooth paste. Then add the boiling water slowly, stirring to ensure there are no lumps.
- Pour the gravy into the pan, and then add the diced beef. Stir and bring to the boil.
- Put the lid on the pan and put the pie filling into your preheated oven. Cook for 1 hour 30 minutes. (Check halfway through to ensure there is enough liquid in the pan – top up if necessary. See Note 3.)
- At 15 minutes before the pie filling is ready, turn the oven up to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F, then start making the suet pie crust. Put the flour, suet and salt in a bowl. Stir to ensure the salt and suet are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
- Add just enough cold water to make the mixture come together into a firm dough. (Add a little at a time to ensure the dough does not get too wet. The dough should be firm, but not crumbly or sticky.)
- On a floured surface, roll the dough out until it is about 2cm (1inch) bigger than your pie dish all the way round. Place your pie dish upside down and cut round the dish using a knife – make your cut around 1cm (½icnh) bigger than the pie dish. Keep the offcuts!
- Remove the pie filling from the oven after the 1h30 is up. Carefully transfer the pie filling to a 26cm wide pie dish (with a rim). If your gravy is looking a little thick add a splash of boiling water to thin it out. (See Note 4.)
- Crack an egg into a small dish and beat lightly with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush the rim of your pie dish with the beaten egg and cover the rim with pastry offcuts.
- Brush the pastry offcuts with beaten egg and then place the rolled out pastry circle on top of the pie and crimp the edges to attach the pie crust to the offcuts and make the pie look pretty. Trim off any overhang.
- Finally, brush the pastry lid all over with the beaten egg. Then cut a small cross in the centre of the pie to allow the steam to escape.
- Return the pie into the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until the suet pie crust is a beautiful golden brown.
- Serve with green vegetables and/or mashed potatoes.
Notes
- I use a Le Creuset-style cast iron casserole dish, (AKA dutch oven) which can go on the hob and in the oven. If you don’t have a pan that can go on the hob and in the oven, simply start this stew in a regular saucepan and then tip it into an ovenproof dish to go into the oven.
- I use a 4 litres capacity / 24cm diameter dutch oven. (4.25 quarts / 9.5 inches) There is certainly some flexibility with this stew, however, so a slightly smaller or larger dutch oven / saucepan / ovenproof dish would still work just fine.
- Depending on the kind of oven dish you use, you may find that some of the liquid from the stew is lost through evaporation. The first time you make this stew, you should check on your stew about 1 hour into the cooking. There should be enough liquid that the meat and vegetables are almost completely submerged in the gravy. If you find some of the liquid has evaporated, simply add some more boiling water from the kettle and give the stew a good stir before returning to the oven. Make a note of how much you add, and in future you can add the extra in from the beginning.
- Check on the gravy again before covering with the pie lid. The suet crust pastry will absorb some of the liquid, so I recommend adding enough boiling water so the gravy is a little thinner than you would usually make it. By the time the pie is cooked, your gravy will be the perfect thickness!
- I recommend using this this 26cm / 10inch Falcon Round Pie Dish.
- Not suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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*This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
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