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Aussie Meat Pies

Chris Cognac

By Chris Cognac
in Cooking

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Chris Cognac

Chris Cognac

Posted
Posted

This is a two part question..

I was watching Food Network the other day and saw them go to this great trailer/meat pie stand in Sydney. They served a meat pie that was topped with mashed potato's and some green mushy pea's and I think some gravy....I am dying to try one of those things....Does anyone know where I can find one in the L.A. area.....if not, does anyone know how to make them!

mmmmmm...flaky, gravy goodness!

Moo, Cluck, Oink.....they all taste good!

The Hungry Detective

fresco

fresco

Posted
Posted (edited)

Never tried one of these, but does seem similar to Shepherd's Pie, except with puff pastry. When you google "Australian meat pie recipes" BTW, after half a dozen more or less legit entries, it segues into what seem like extremely raunchy porn sites.

Edited by fresco (log)
Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
Niall

Niall

Posted
Posted

That would ahve been Harry's Cafe de Wheels; a sydney institution.

'You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.'

- Frank Zappa

Jinmyo

Jinmyo

Posted
Posted

Bourdain posted on Hary's (though that wasn't the thread title). A search should turn it up.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Chris Cognac

Chris Cognac

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
That would ahve been Harry's Cafe de Wheels; a sydney institution.

OK thats the place...now all I have to do is figure out where to get something like that in L.A....There are a million Aussie's over here...dont they eat meat pie's?....There has got to be someplace!..I think I know which episode Tony B was posting about...the one with the fish in the pies...nasty, but the green pea gravy topping looked good.

Had lots of trouble posting this (meaning the actual typoing of it) due to 2 hr cooking sesion, bottle of 2 buck chuck Cabernet and a big steak with a Cab, butter shalot reduction....hit the spot, but to much cab for me and not enough for the steak!

Moo, Cluck, Oink.....they all taste good!

The Hungry Detective

Adam Balic

Adam Balic

Posted
Posted

Australian meat pies are not really like sheppard pies, other then they are both pies.

Short crust base, puff pastry lid. Meat filling, no reall veg content. Commercial pies will have dried onion powder in them etc.

Take stewing meat, ground up coarsely and brown, added browned onions sprinkle with flour, cover with meat stock, cook until meat is very tender. Season. Allow this to cool over night. This is the pie filling.

The peas are mushy peas of the marrowfat type that you get in the UK.

I was once complimented on my meat pies by a former Indian cricket captain.

The Art and Mystery of Food

alanamoana

alanamoana

Posted
Posted

aussies are funny in that unlike the chinese, they don't tend to import their cuisine along with themselves. there's another thread about aussie restaurants in nyc or some such complaint that there are none.

i've eaten at cafe de wheels. it was good, but NOT overwhelmingly wonderful. meat pies are ubiquitous in australia.

i'd say it's more like pot pie than shepherd's pie. oh yeah, and the aussies eat them with ketchup?! strange people :smile:

sparrowgrass

sparrowgrass

Posted
Posted

Could someone explain "mushy peas" to me? The only thing I think of when I hear that is canned sweet peas, which, IMHO, should be a felony. The only thing worse is canned peas and carrots, which is the only kind of child abuse I was ever exposed to. Canned peas and carrots, thrown into tuna noodle casserole, for "color."

Yarp.

sparrowgrass
Chris Cognac

Chris Cognac

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Could someone explain "mushy peas" to me?

Yea I wanna know as well...I have seen Nigella make em and I think Tony B ate some on his show...They look great, but where the heck can I get em?

Moo, Cluck, Oink.....they all taste good!

The Hungry Detective

britcook

britcook

Posted
Posted (edited)

Mushy peas are a basic and cheap filler, with no redeeming gourmet qualities. But after a few beers a meat pie (British or Australian), chips (that's British chips) and mushy peas hit the spot. Take dried marrowfat peas, soak them overnight, add a colouring tablet and boil them until mushy, add lots of salt. Perfect meal.

And Chris wins this week's prize for creative use of the apostrophe.

Edit to add that they must, absolutely must, be individual pies.

Edited by britcook (log)
fifi

fifi

Posted
Posted

What is a marrowfat pea? Colouring tablet? What color? More importantly, WHY?

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

Chris Cognac

Chris Cognac

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

And Chris wins this week's prize for creative use of the apostrophe.

You know that blank look that Homer Simpson gives....I currently look like that!

By the way, I do have an awesome tattoo of Homer on my right arm!

I am thinking of getting one of the "Bender" from the "Iron Cook" episode of Futurama next.

Moo, Cluck, Oink.....they all taste good!

The Hungry Detective

britcook

britcook

Posted
Posted
What is a marrowfat pea? Colouring tablet? What color? More importantly, WHY?

A marrowfat pea is just another variety of pea, one of the many pulses available around the world. The colouring tablet is mainly bicarbonate of soda along with some Brilliant Green dye to bring back the colour to the dried pulses. The colouring isn't strictly necessary but saves them from turning out a pale greyish colour. I suppose you'd compare mushy peas (or their predecessor pease pudding) with things like dal/dahl or polenta, not particularly wonderful on their own but they add to the rest of the meal.

And for Chris with the Homer expression, it was just that the apostrophe cropped up in unexpected places (potato's) and didn't appear where it might have done (em). Original :rolleyes:

skchai

skchai

Posted
Posted

Harry's Cafe Home Page.

I first read about them in of all places Korean Air Line's in-flight magazine. If I recall correctly, the article said that Harry's was an institution and the taste of the pies was irrelevant. On the other hand there was a German guy who was making quite a name for himself in Sydney with his all-butter puff-pastry pies with all kinds of fusion fillings but I forget his name. All I remember is he said that he hated pies and just did it to make a living.

Sun-Ki Chai
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sunki/

Former Hawaii Forum Host

Adam Balic

Adam Balic

Posted
Posted
Do you serve them with the potato's and peas, then gravy?....Also can I make a big pie from a pre formed frozen crust or should I make them smaller individual size?

No. I come from Victoria, we don't do the pie and pea/mashed potato thing, this is a NSW or SA thing.

Meat pies need only the addition of sauce and footy.

The Art and Mystery of Food

Adam Balic

Adam Balic

Posted
Posted
What is a marrowfat pea? Colouring tablet? What color? More importantly, WHY?

Marrowfat peas are a large type of drying pea, very ancient usage in Europe. Not sweet like modern garden peas. Think of the dried split peas used in pea and ham soup. The colouring tablet is something the chippies do to make the peas look more attractive to people that think Uranium-glow green is a 'healthy' colour.

The Art and Mystery of Food

Chris Cognac

Chris Cognac

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Meat pies need only the addition of sauce and footy.

OK...Footy is what?...

And what the heck is a Chippy...

Footy = Australian Rules Football

Chippy = Fish and Chip shop/van

Aussie rules football rocks..I watch that on TV..Those guys are men and take some serious hits...not like some of the "they dont pay me enough" NFL boys these days

Moo, Cluck, Oink.....they all taste good!

The Hungry Detective

bourdain

bourdain

Posted
Posted

Harry's meat pies are unsurpassed. I recommend the "Tiger" variety. Bigger, fresher, plumper--without the empty space or sagging of many of the British pub variety, they're topped with a heaping scoop of mashed potatoes with a small "well" impression in top and a volcanic flow of bright green pea "sauce". We shot a segment at Harry's (which sadly appears only in the international version of ACT)--and shooter/producers Chris and Lydia became immediately addicted/enslaved. I think Chris was up to three of those bad boys by the time we left. Definitely a Sydney must-visit. Traditionally, I believe, the idea is to get "pissed" at the pubs--then swing by Harry's. One orders, then sits, legs hanging over the water's edge, and scarfs.

I want one now.

abourdain

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