GUEST ISSUE: OX CHEEK, TAIL AND ALE PIE
Our first guest writer! Chef Will Lewis AKA The Pie King.
Howdy,
Welcome back to another issue of How I Cook+!
This is the last issue of 2023, and I just want to seize the opportunity to thank you all for your support. I launched the newsletter on September 1st of this year and never thought it would be as down right fun, challenging and exciting as it has been. I so look forward to sitting down and writing this each week for you, and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much.
As it’s the bit in between the holidays and I’m running around trying to pack in family and friends, it’s very handy then that this week’s recipe has been written by the talented Will Lewis of Willy’s Pies.
In our first ever guest issue, Will is going to share a few pie secrets and talk all things beef and ale. Read on for more…
Cheers everyone,
B x
Pies! A great british institution. God we love ‘em, and what a time to spend a few hours creating a perfect pie for your loved ones. It’s cold out, Christmas is coming to a close and you need something big, fat, and full of flavour.
I’m honoured to have resident pie master Will Lewis on the pans for this week’s newsletter. I’ve eaten many of his delightful pies, some pastry-wrapped highlights have included roast chicken, sage and onion an amazing beef rogan josh and a celeriac and ogleshield. There’s something for everyone on the menu and you can taste his time in the kitchen of Fergus Henderson’s St John in his creations. Simple British ingredients elevated via the deft hand of a talented cook.
What really stands out for me is Will’s seriously good, creative pie fillings. They are thoughtful, tasty and never stray too far from culinary sense and tradition. He’s nailed the classics, and often offers a small addition or deviation that you wouldn’t have thought of, but luckily, he has.
Maybe it’s lacing a roast chicken pie with green curry and thai basil, or buying the best cheddar from the Westcombe dairy instead of scooping up bog-standard stuff. It’s just smart cooking.
I try and avoid using the word “twist” when describing new ideas in cooking. It feels like a cheap term that has been oversold by publishers and pedalled by John Torode for far too long. Will’s ideas aren’t twists, they’re just really good ideas, inspired by the classics, and that’s why they work. He’s earned his stripes, and they look (and taste) bloody good.
Anyway, enough from me, over to Will…
Will Lewis, on pies…
Ahhh pies.
The ultimate British classic, right next to bangers and mash, the full english and fish and chips. People fight over who’s right and who’s wrong when coming to a pie’s overall makeup, its essential accomplishments and basically who does it best.
In my eyes, the great british pie’s been neglected in the south and whilst I’m not slagging off the London restaurant scene I have been a part of for so many years, what I am saying is, shame on any British chef who can’t create a banging pie.
I will slag off the mainstream, run of mill, cheap, boring stuff available in supermarkets. A proper pie is a culinary masterclass when done to perfection, but when done poorly, it’s mocked, put-down and ridiculed, and rightly so. So I’m going to show you how to nail a good pie.
Half the battle I’ve had since starting Willy’s pies, a business founded in the depths of lockdown after being furloughed as a chef, is convincing people good food, made well, does (unfortunately) come at a price. Basically we aren’t pukka, alright? To make and eat a good pie, you need good ingredients. A cheap Pukka looks like its stuffed with dog food because, well, it sort of is. A good British pie is about good british produce, treated with respect, and cooked with care. The payoff is quality, and that’s what has kept Willy’s Pies chugging along as long as it has. We’ve even got Ian Wright on board…
Anyway, I’d say this pie is my ultimate show-stopper. An ox cheek, tail and ale number. As beefy as they come. The oxtail stock may be a labour of love but it offers you something that a stock cube never will. It’s the ultimate flavour base.
Gelatinous, rammed with flavour and essential to make this pie a standout banger. Well, that and the perfect suet crust. You should know the rest by now.. go to your local butcher, cheesemonger, fish man etc.
Enjoy.
Cheers Will! The boy knows his onions. Here are some more thoughts from me after having spent the afternoon cooking a pie with the big dog…
Oxtail Stock
This is Will’s secret weapon. When he told me he was bringing a homemade oxtail stock, I knew this pie would be a corker.
When you learn to cook professionally, you are always asking, where can I add more flavour. If you’re about to add water to a recipe, could you add wine, beer or stock instead? Could you add a dollop of mustard? A drop of Worcestershire sauce?
Building a good pie filling is about stacking up those flavours, and you need a good foundation to build on, right? This oxtail stock is “the ultimate flavour base”, packed with gelatin, beefy flavour and pulled oxtail meat it is quite literally one of the best stocks I’ve ever made. And now you can, too.
Thanks Will!
Pastry
Will keeps it classic. No secrets here really, just the suet dumpling recipe from the back of a packet of Atora beef suet. We whipped up a batch with a packet of suet, self-raising flour and replaced the water Atora call for with whole milk (remember that flavour question? Why water, when you can milk!). This’ll bring a richness to the pastry and encourage a good colour when baking.
Atora suet comes in a little bag, formed into small pellets. You tip that into a bowl with flour and use your fingertips to rub the whole lot together until it’s got a sandy texture. My instinct was to leave a few pellets whole to encourage some extra puff, but Will’s tip was to fully rub the pellets into the flour. This way you’ll achieve a much stronger, more uniform pastry that’ll stand up to a big beefy filling. See above for proof that Will’s pastry is flaky, puffed and delicious.
Filling
The really exciting bit of any pie recipe. What goes inside.
This filling has three acts; the first, the oxtail stock. The second is the braise, and the final act is the garnish. We’ve covered the stock, so let’s talk braise.
For the braise, Will follows the classic rulebook. Sear the ingredients and cook very gently in that incredible oxtail stock. You can pull off the braise on the stove but it’s far better to do it in the oven. You won’t have to keep going back to the stove to stir and everything cooks much more evenly in the oven. As well as the stock, Will uses dark beer to bring body and depth to the braise. We used my beer Wiener Dawg and it worked a treat, but Guinness is a classic and any dark/amber ale will do just fine. Take your time with the braise and make sure those cheeks are meltingly tender.
Finally, once that braise is done and dusted, it’s time for the garnish. This is maybe the most exciting part for me. The garnish is about adding a handful of finishing ingredients that elevate that big beefy braise. Will goes for a heaping spoon of dijon, nose-tingling horseradish and Worcestershire sauce. We can think of them like seasonings like salt, pepper or lemon juice. Seasoning is all about bringing out flavours, highlighting nuance and celebrating good ingredients. Will understands this implicitly, and picks his finishing moves wisely. A good whack of chopped parsley is the final addition, delivering a verdant twang right at the end.
Texture is the most important thing with a good pie filling. You want the goldilocks moment of a filling that is between perfectly ooze-y and one that holds its shape when sliced. If you cut your pie open and it seeps out everywhere, it’s no good. You want a pie you can pick up and hold.
You’ll have a good idea of what texture your pie will be after you’ve made the filling, you’ll want to adjust it before it goes into the pie. A filling that’s too wet will make the pastry soggy and be very hard to pick up.
Baking
We baked ours in a pizza oven, which I assume 99.9% of you won’t do. So ignore that bit. You want to bake this at 200°C. It might seem too hot, but it ain’t. You want good colour, a good puff and to really set that pastry.
Glaze your pastry with a good egg wash so it comes out nice and shiny. Don’t forget to cut a little hole in the top, or your pie might blow up..
Sides
Peas, a pat of butter, and a dollop of mustard. That’s what we ate with our pie. I think the lesson here is keep it simple (we keep using that word his week…). Add sides that are going to make your pie sing. Don’t go dousing anything in powerful, conflicting flavours and let your pie do the talking. Mash on the side is an obvious choice, and a good one.
Whilst I am a big fan of a good gravy, a pie this unctuous and beefy just needs something green, a smear of spicy mustard, and a knife and fork.
NB: Will’s gravy is exceptionally good, and I will probably ask him back to teach us how to make it someday. It’s made with lots of roasted chicken and is pretty perfect.