History Cookbook: Steak and Kidney Pie
This recipe is in categories Interwar Years, Main courses
About this recipe
Healthiness : (87 votes)
Tastes in the interwar years were very conservative. Most people (except the very rich and very poor) expected a substantial main meal of meat and two vegetables every day. Many people were suspicious of foreign food. Steak and kidney pie was a well-known favourite in this era.
Tastes in the interwar years were very conservative. Most people (except the very rich and very poor) expected a substantial main meal of meat and two vegetables every day. Many people were suspicious of foreign food. Steak and kidney pie was a well-known favourite in this era.
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 1 lb (464g) of shoulder steak
- 2 sheep's kidneys
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- salt
- pepper
- 1 minced onion
- stock or water
- 8 oz (230g) flour
- 3 oz (85g) butter
- water
- 1 teaspoonful baking powder
- 4 oz (115g) lard
- pinch salt
Equipment
- Weighing scales
- Chopping board
- Sharp knife
- Tablespoon
- Measuring jug
- Wooden spoon
- Mixing bowl
- Sieve
- Dish
- Food brush
- Pie dish
Making and cooking it

Preparing the filling:
- Cut the steak into very thin slices
- Split, skin, core and slice the kidneys
- Mix the flour and seasoning
- Dip the meat in the flour and seasoning mix
- Pack the pie dish loosely to a little above the level of the dish
- Fill with water or stock
- Cover with flaky pastry
- Place in the oven for 1 hour and a half
- Sift the flour with the baking powder
- Rub in butter and add enough water to mix to a stiff paste
- Put lard on a well-floured board and press out into thin pieces with a rolling pin
- Roll out pastry to a square shape
- Cover pastry with the pressed lard and then fold the pastry sides to the centre both ways, then fold in half again. The pastry should then be folded in eight
- Roll the pastry slightly larger than the top of the dish
- Cut two bands about 1/2 inch wide
- Moisten the rim of dish with water and lay the bands of pastry around the dish edge
- Moisten the pastry edge and lay on the main pastry cover
- Decorate the edges with the prongs of a fork
Cut a hole in the centre of the pastry and brush the top only with egg

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Name: Dorie | 8th December 2011 |
You've really captured all the essentials in this sujbcet area, haven't you? |
Name: Nerys | 13th November 2011 |
I made this last night. Yummy. Tip to make it nicer - bash up the slices of beef, coated in flour, with a meat mallet before frying them first. Bashing them flat is quite fun as long as you wash your hands carefully afterwards, and helps stop the meat being chewy. |
Name: Alan M | 17th August 2011 |
Tell you what, the Trench Stew from the WW1 period "Avoid" food sounds better than this! |
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