The Best Beef Pot Pie
Prep
30m
Cook
150m
Total
180m
Bigly says
Beef pot pie. Beef pot pie! The greatest beef pot pie in the history of beef pot pie — and there's been a LOT of beef pot pie, more than people realize, this dish is pre-pyramid technology, older than France, older than Italy, the British have been doing it since approximately forever, the Australians put a pie INSIDE A SOUP which honestly I respect, that's commitment — and this pot pie, MY pot pie, the one we're making today, beats every single one of them. It's not even close. It's a slaughter. A delicious, gravy-soaked slaughter.
What is a beef pot pie? I'll tell you. It is BRAISED beef, tender like butter, swimming in a deep mahogany gravy with carrots and onions and mushrooms and a little splash of red wine — and the WHOLE thing is hidden under a roof, a HUGE roof, of golden flaky pastry. You crack through that crust with a spoon and steam rises up like a tiny chimney and the smell hits you and you forget your problems. Your bills. Your in-laws. The email you didn't answer. ALL GONE. The pie has erased it. The pie is healing.
Most chefs are afraid to do this dish properly. They cut corners — they use ground beef instead of chuck, sad, embarrassing — they use canned soup as the gravy, a CRIME against gravy, they should be on a list — they buy a frozen crust that tastes like a cardboard box wearing a costume. We don't do that here. We braise the beef. We build the gravy from the brown bits in the bottom of the pot. We use real butter pastry. If your chef tells you otherwise, find a new chef. Plain and simple.
Ingredients
- 2 lbbeef chuck roast, cut into 1.5-inch cubes(chuck, not sirloin, sirloin is for steaks not for braising, end of discussion)
- 2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1/4 cup, plus 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 3 tbspolive oil
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 1 largeyellow onion, diced
- 3 mediumcarrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds
- 8 ozcremini mushrooms, quartered
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 cupdry red wine(something you'd drink, not the dusty bottle from 2009)
- 2 1/2 cupsbeef broth
- 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
- 4 sprigsfresh thyme
- 2bay leaves
- 1 cupfrozen peas
- 1 (about 14 oz)puff pastry sheet, thawed(the all-butter kind if you can find it, life is too short for margarine pastry)
- 1egg, beaten with 1 tsp water (for egg wash)
Steps
- 1
Pat the beef cubes dry with paper towels and season all over with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and the pepper. Toss with 1/4 cup of flour to coat.
- 2
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in 2-3 batches so you don't crowd the pan, sear the beef on at least two sides until deeply browned, 4-5 minutes per batch. Transfer the browned beef to a plate.
- 3
Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter to the same pot. Add the onion, carrots, and mushrooms with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and the mushrooms have released and reabsorbed their liquid.
- 4
Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until the paste darkens slightly.
- 5
Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Cook 1 minute to toast the flour.
- 6
Pour in the red wine and scrape up every browned bit from the bottom of the pot. Simmer 2 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol.
- 7
Stir in the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Return the seared beef and any resting juices to the pot.
- 8
Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to low. Braise 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the beef is fork-tender and the sauce has thickened to a gravy.
- 9
Remove the thyme stems and bay leaves. Stir in the frozen peas. Taste and adjust salt. Let the filling cool for 15 minutes so it doesn't melt the pastry on contact.
- 10
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Transfer the filling to a 9x13-inch baking dish (or 6 individual oven-safe ramekins).
- 11
Roll the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface just enough to fit over the dish with a 1-inch overhang. Lay it across the top and press the edges to seal against the rim. Trim any excess. Cut 3-4 small slits in the center to vent steam.
- 12
Brush the pastry all over with egg wash. Place the dish on a rimmed baking sheet (it will probably bubble over).
- 13
Bake 30-35 minutes until the pastry is deeply golden, puffed, and crisp. Rest 10 minutes before serving.
One more thing
You serve this pie at a dinner table and the room changes. People start using their inside voices. Forks slow down. Someone closes their eyes when they chew, which under any other circumstance would be weird, but with this pot pie it's just RESPECT, it's reverence, it's the right response. Spoon up a deep portion — make sure everybody gets a chunk of that golden roof on top of their gravy — and watch them dig in. The pie always wins. The pie is unbeaten. Save me a piece.
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