Recipe for steak pudding (oxtail pie)
The most juicy and delicious beef pie I have ever tried.
I can in no way see myself as the mastermind behind this recipe; I got it from an old “How to cook like Heston” program and have shared the video below.
The English love steak and kidney pies, and I have used most of Heston Blumenthal’s techniques to make a delicious beef pie with a deep, rich sauce. If you’re not into oxtails, you can easily replace them with other tougher cuts of beef, but I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Chef'S Knife
- Pot With a thick bottom
- Bowl
- Spatula Preferably in wood
- Sieve
- Rolling Pin
- Oven
- Muffin Form
Ingredients
- 1 pcs. Onion
- 1 pcs. Star Anise
- 20 gram Butter
- 2 pcs. Carrots
- 150 gram Mushroom
- 300 gram Water
- 1 pcs. Ox Tail
- 42 gram Oil neutral in taste, for frying
- 79 gram Brandy can be cognac, whisky, or rum
- 750 gram Red Wine
- 750 gram Beef Stock
- 750 gram Chicken Stock
- 4 pcs. Tomato
- Fresh thyme
- Bay Leaf
- 1 package Puff Pastry
Instructions
- Chop the onion and place it in a sauté pan or pot with a thick bottom.
- Heat it over medium-high heat (9 out of 14 on my stovetop) and melt the butter.
- Add the onion and star anise and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
- Roughly chop the carrots and mushrooms and add them to the pot.
- When everything has gained a bit of color, remove them and place them in a bowl.
- Add water and bring it to a boil while scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spatula. This way, you'll get all the good flavors from the browned bits.
- Pour the liquid into the bowl with the vegetable mixture.
- Wipe the pot and put it back on the stove. Turn up to full heat and add oil when hot.
- Add your oxtail slices and brown them on both sides. They need good heat, and remember, if they can't fit in a single layer, you must brown them in two batches.
- Remove them from the stove when browned, and once again, we need to get the flavor from the browned bits at the bottom of the pot. This is done by adding alcohol and stock.
- Stir well at the bottom to get all the browned bits into the sauce. Add a couple of roughly chopped tomatoes, fresh thyme, and a few bay leaves.
- Return the vegetables and oxtail to the pot.
- Bring everything to a boil and then cover with a lid.
- Lower the heat and let it simmer for 4-5 hours.
- I have a Mealthy Multipot multicooker for pressure cooking, so I browned my meat and vegetables in it and pressure cooked everything for 2 hours at full power instead.
- Once the meat is cooked, it's important to let it cool (at room temperature) in the pot for 45 minutes before using it. This keeps the meat juicy.
- Carefully remove the meat (it is very tender) from the pot and place it in a bowl.
- Pour all the contents from the pot through a sieve into a smaller pot. Now, you have everything for the sauce, and because there is so much gelatin in the tails, it will thicken on its own. Bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat so it simmers and reduces.
- The meat needs to be separated from the bone, and the tendons should be removed. Now you have the most delicious and tender piece of beef with lots of good flavor.
- While the sauce reduces, you can prepare the dough for the pie.
- I used puff pastry from the freezer for this dish. Normally, the British use a suet pastry, which is made from beef kidney fat and flour. I didn't have any at the time, so I went with puff pastry. The dough typically needs to be steamed in the oven over a water bath, so it doesn't become particularly crispy, so I baked my puff pastry a bit less than I normally would.
- Dust the kitchen counter with flour and roll out the puff pastry to about double its size.
- Cut it into pieces that fit your mold. I had an aluminum muffin pan which mine went into. This meant I didn't need to grease them beforehand. If you use steel, I would grease them with a bit of oil first.
- Place the dough in the molds, ensuring there is enough to cover the top.
- Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
- Add about 90% of the now-reduced sauce to the bowl with the meat. Mix it well.
- Fill your dough with the meat/sauce mixture and seal them well on top.
- Bake them for 12-15 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) (fan-assisted).
- Remove them from the mold and turn them upside down, so the larger part is at the bottom.
- The rest of the sauce should go over the top, but you can be cheeky and use a syringe (as you can see in the video), so you can inject the sauce directly into the pies to ensure they are 100% juicy.
- Enjoy.
