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Beef-Steak Pie

A Beef-Steak Pie from Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, 1747 edition, p. 104.

Take fine rump-steaks, beat them with a rolling-pin, then season them with pepper and salt, according to your palate ; make a good crust, lay in your steaks, fill your dish, then pour in as much water as will half fill the dish ; put on the crust, and bake it well.

Beefsteak Pie from The Lady's Assistant by Charlotte Mason, 1777 (London).

Rump steaks are the best ; season them with pepper and salt, most pepper ; puff paste top and bottom ; water to fill the dish.

Beefsteak Pie from Thomas Jefferson's Cookbook by Marie Kimball, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA, 1976

Cut 2 pounds of beefsteak into small pieces. Stew in a little water until half done. Season with salt and pepper. Line a baking dish with puff paste, put in the steak. Season the gravy very high and pour in the dish. Cover with paste and bake until the paste is a nice brown.

Beefsteak and Kidney Pie from The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook by Mary Donovan, Amy Hatrak, Frances Mills and Elizabeth Shull, Montclair Historical Society, 1982.

This traditional English pie was a favorite of George Washington.

4 small veal kidneys                 2 bay leaves
1 cup claret wine                    Salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, sliced                      

1½ pounds rump or round steak, cut into 1 inch strips
Flour for dredging                    1 onion, diced
Bacon drippings                      

1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 cups water                          ½ cup parsley, chopped
2 tsp marjoram                        1½ cups mushrooms, sliced
Butter for sauté                      Puff paste or biscuit dough

With a sharp knife separate kidneys and remove fat and gristly membrane. Sprinkle with salt. Cover with claret, sliced onion, bay leaves, and pepper. Marinate for 2 hours. Pound strips of steak and dredge with flour. Melt bacon drippings, add diced onions, and cook until golden. Remove from skillet. In the skillet, brown the steak well. Drain kidneys, reserving marinade; dredge with flour and brown in the skillet, stirring carefully and adding bacon drippings if necessary. Add approximately 2 cups hot water and stir well. Add chopped celery, parsley, and marjoram. Simmer very slowly, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, or until meats are tender. Sauté mushrooms in butter, straining the marinade into them. Add mixture to beef and kidneys. If gravy needs thickening, do so with flour and cold water. Pour into a deep pie dish. Cover with a crust of puff paste, or thin biscuit dough, and bake at 400º until brown, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serves 8.

The Stow Minuteman interpretation of Beef Steak Pie

2 lbs. stew beef, rump, round or chuck                                              1 large onion, chopped

Bacon drippings or other fat                                                                flour for dredging


3 cups hot water                                                                                   1½ tsp salt 
½ tsp freshly ground pepper                                                                 2 bay leaves
1 tsp Mushroom catsup or Worcestershire sauce                           1½ cup celery, chopped
Baby carrots or a couple of chopped large carrots (opt.)       1 large potato, cut into chunks (opt.)
½  cup parsley, chopped (optional)                                  ½ tsp marjoram or several sprigs of fresh
½ tsp thyme  or several sprigs of fresh   

 Puff paste or your favorite pie crust

Chop up beef into ½ - ¾ inch cubes and dredge in flour. Chop the onion. Brown beef in a stew pan or large skillet in the fat. Add onions and cook until they are translucent. Add in water, mushroom catsup or Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, bay leaves; simmer for 1 - 1 ½ hour. Add in carrots, celery, potato, parsley, marjoram and thyme. Simmer until vegetables are just barely tender. Pour into a large pie pan, cover with pastry and bake at 425º until crust is golden brown, maybe 15 or 20 minutes.