Building A Pie

We needed to wrestle with setting the heating system on this much colder morning.

I have been reading “Lovely is the Lee” by Robert Gibbings for the last three days and should finish it for review tomorrow.

In the meantime I watched Jackie building one of her excellent beef pies for tonight’s dinner. As she said “several hours in the making, consumed in twenty minutes.

The filling had been cooked earlier, then set aside.

I wondered what this little clay balls were for. It turns out they were to ensure that the base of the pie would not be soggy. They are placed on tin foil set in the base and heated in the oven. The ceramic bowl beside them is to contain them afterwards until they are cool enough to return to their plastic pot.

The lid and the appliqué decorations are neatly cut to size;

the lid firmly fixed in place;

forked and coated with milk

to help the pastry decorations to stick,

then painted with beaten egg to aid browning in the oven, from where

it is placed on the table,

and plated up.

I don’t need words to describe our feast.

96 comments

    1. Thank you so much, Pat. By the way, I don’t have a copy of Tom Jones, which might be why I don’t remember it 🙂

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  2. Oh my gosh, Jackie! Your creation looks so very delicious! I would love to try this! Have a great weekend, guys. ????????????

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  4. Dear Jackie, I applaud your time, skill and effort in creating a pie from scratch. I used to spend hours in the kitchen just to see something consumed in just a few minutes. It was always worth it, of course. Do I miss it? No but I love to see others continuing as you do. These days, the simplest and quickest is my way of thinking. Norm enjoys his cooking these days so I let him go for it. 🙂 I think ironing comes in at a close 2nd my ‘not to do’ list. 🙂

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  12. No one over here eats a savory pie — at least, not very often. I’d certainly be willing to be the first on my block to give it a try with that sitting in front of me. Beautiful! My compliments to the chef!

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  14. I love the images of the pie baking. Did Jackie tell you that baking pastry base before adding the filling and the lid is called baking blind?

    I love a meat pie, but my plan this weekend is to bake an apple and pear pie. Today was cake baking for the younger grandchildren and I’m shattered!

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    1. I’ll bet you are shattered, Sue. Jackie says “So it is. I’d forgotten”. Thanks very much, Sue

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  15. The pie looks absolutely scrumptious Derrick … I’ve not had a good old home baked pie since the old days when I was young and mum used make them …

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  19. Derrick, I shouldn’t have read this while in bed. I just may get up and raid the refrigerator. Jackie is a perfectionist, it’s easy to see. Such a beautiful pie. Nice post.

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  20. Wow! I tend to be one of those people who goes rustic though I admire people who have the skill and patience to make gustatory masterpieces like this one! Jackie’s a keeper!

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  23. Well done Jackie! My pies end up looking very rustic indeed compared with yours. This coverage of yours, Derrick, has been fun to see.

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  24. The pie looks delicious.

    An unrelated comment and question: For the past few months, my comments don’t seem to be getting through. Am I doing something wrong? Did you see this?

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  31. That pie is a work of art, Jackie! Thank you for documenting the process, Derrick. I had not heard of little clay balls being used to keep the bottom crust from becoming soggy. I learned something new here.

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  34. I remember when I heard about blind baking when I learned English. “Should I close my eyes,” I thought and of course, that didn’t make any sense. “Blind baking” we call it here in the US, giving the piecrust the weight and the illusion of a filling that can be removed, like beans. I had no idea they sell ‘baking beans’ I learned something. Jackie decorated the masterpiece nicely and with love. Nice photos, showing the process of making a meat pie.

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    1. Jackie doesn’t do recipes. I’ll follow her process next time 🙂 Thanks very much Sheree

      Reply

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