Sooner than we get started on the frequent programming, I merely wished to current a shout-out to all the improbable individuals who despatched me a response—whether or not or not by suggestions, textual content material messages, emails, tweets, and in every other case—to ultimate week’s cynical submit regarding the state of meals media. You all launched up such improbable components (some in settlement, some in direct opposition of my very personal), and I solely need that I can share all of them so we’re in a position to preserve the dialog going. Keep a be careful for additional posts like that in the end! I’m at current making an attempt to consider additional strategies we’re in a position to proceed ruminating on such an vital matter and bringing additional illustration to the meals communities all of us love quite a bit.
As I was wanting by means of my pictures of this pie, I observed that Hummingbird Extreme was a set of victories. Each recipe that I share on this website represents successful inside the kitchen; all Hummingbird highs, if you happen to’ll (see what I did there? ????). I don’t ever share the failures inside the kitchen — the Hummingbird lows.
Enter this pie.
This beef and guinness meat pie was purported to be a celebration of two points: at current, Pi Day, and the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day on Friday (because of I used Guinness and the Irish like meat pies, I assume). Instead, it was neither.
I largely blame the Scorching Water Crust. I first heard about scorching water crust pastries by means of The Good British Bake Off (a.okay.a. The Good British Baking Current to Folks, really, they’re the exact same current, why change the establish?), the place contestants breathed a collective sigh of assist upon discovering out that scorching water crust pastry was one among many challenges of the episode. One baker outlined that scorching water crusts have been less complicated to work with than the usual all-fat variations that we Persons are so used to working with — at this, my ears perked up. I’d struggled with typical pie dough many, many events. I watched with rapt consideration as one among many judges, Paul Hollywood, used the pastry to assemble an elaborate deep dish pies fashioned like an historic Greek destroy. You couldn’t do this with frequent pie crust. Or on the very least, I couldn’t.
I largely forgot about scorching water crust pastry until my extraordinarily gifted acquaintance, Erin McDowell, posted a rapturous love letter to the crust on Food52. After finding out her tribute, I decided to current it a shot — along with, Erlend had been begging me to make a savory meat pie for years, most definitely since I made him watch that Good British Bake Off episode with me — dreaming of an elaborate deep dish building with cut-outs of Pi numbers swirling throughout the lid.
Nevertheless that didn’t happen, NOPE. I made the crust twice. I nonetheless don’t know what went flawed. When the pastry was nonetheless warmth, I rolled it out to a great circle as I’d a traditional pie crust. No dice. It won’t preserve its type, bending and coming apart at its private will. This was constructive when establishing the pie’s sides and base — I ended up merely working it want it was clay, using my arms to pat it into place. Nevertheless what was I purported to do regarding the lid? I couldn’t pat the pastry on excessive of the comparatively liquidy beef and guinness stew.
I figured that I’d been too impatient and hadn’t let the pastry cool adequate for coping with. So I made a second batch significantly for the lid, rolled it out, and waited for it to sit back. My mistake this time was letting it cool an extreme quantity of. The lid shattered on the slightest contact, and had taken on the consistency of terribly brittle fudge.
I gave up. At the moment, I was virtually out of the $10 bottle of small batch/pure/artisan lard that I’d indulgently purchased at Total Meals for the occasion. I’d been inside the kitchen for 3 hours, not even counting the hours spent the evening time sooner than to get the meat and guinness stew in order. I salvaged what I’ll, threw it unceremoniously on excessive of my patted bottom and sides, and stamped out these numbers from the leftover shattered objects (don’t get me started on that — that was one different ache inside the ass, with the pastry actually shattering and crumbling out of the cookie cutters). I halfheartedly took some pictures with my mannequin new Canon 5D Mark IV, and realized hours later (after the pie had been largely consumed by Erlend) that I’d left the digicam on manufacturing unit settings and it had captured each factor as a JPEG file as a substitute of my regular RAW.
And that, friends, is what a Hummingbird Low looks like.
Listed below are the recipes I used — I hope you possibly can have larger luck with them than I did:
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1. Scorching Water Crust Pastry
Fully no alterations have been made to the recipe that I linked to. The recipe yields a texture very similar to a biscuit, nonetheless a lot much less flakey. It tastes fairly bland because of the crust really is simply a automotive for the filling. I couldn’t get it to work. That’s all.
2. Beef and Guinness Stout Filling
I omitted the nutmeg, rosemary, and mushrooms and as a substitute swapped in 1 medium peeled potato and a generous tablespoon of kosher salt. Moreover, as a substitute of pale ale beer, I used Guinness Stout beer. Basic, it was pretty tasty — would most definitely making the filling as soon as extra, nonetheless with a traditional pie crust or puff pastry. It is best to undoubtedly make the filling method prematurely of the crust; it should be sluggish cooked for the simplest style and texture.
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