4 min read · Jan 20, 2021
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I have really not been in the mood to write a blog lately, and those of you who are avid readers and followers of my blog and socials have noticed my “active” posting of reels. I was getting into my “lazy” reel posting business today, and I realized that I have A LOT to say about meat pies, and I HATE long IG posts, so here I am, back home… where I belong (Alexa, play “Home” by Chris Daughtry)
So let me first say that if you do not use puff pastry to make your meat pies, this small small girl from Kamwenge does not and will NEVER rate your meat pies. If you fry your meat pies, you are in the same boat, and therefore you have been CHOPPED! 🔪 I’m so sorry for the violence; I promise that I am not like this all the time, but flaky meat pies own my heart, and I will die on a hill defending them.
Soooooo on to the recipe.
Prep: 2–8 hours (depending on how patient you are)
Bake: 30 minutes
Temp: Pre-heated oven at 180°
Yield: up to 10servings
What you’ll need:
- 1kg of lean minced meat
- 1 lemon
- Coldwater
- 2 eggs
- Vegetables
- 2 eggs
- 750gms of cold unsalted butter
- Flour
Procedure:
- First, you have to prepare the minced meat to put it aside to rest and soak in all the seasoning. If you have been good readers and used some of my recipes, make the meat the same way I showed y’all in my quaranTREATS post.
- For the puff pastry, grate 500 gms of the cold butter into a mixing bowl, add flour, and rub in (just like you are making scones). Once the flour has been incorporated with the butter, add cold water and squeeze the lemon juice into the mix until it forms a dough. The acid of the lemon the acid helps relax the flour's gluten, making it easier to roll out and add some flavor to the dough. Make sure the dough is firm, kind of like chapati dough. Now, don’t ask me for these measurements cause I don’t know, use your eyes, and if your ancestors love you, they will guide you!
- After this, let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Get the remaining butter (250gms) (it should be COLD) and place it between cling film and roll out until it's flat (about 1 inch thick). The serious cooks out there actually measure and cut the butter and the dough so that it fits perfectly together but AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! Just make sure the dough is slightly wider and longer than the rolled out butter. Anyway, once you've rolled out the butter, roll out the cold dough and add the cold butter on top and wrap it together into a rectangle.
- Let it chill in the fridge for 30–60 minutes(depending on how patient you are), but the longer, the better to let the gluten in the dough chill.
- Layering! Once the dough has chilled, sprinkle flour onto the countertop or rolling board (whatever you are using), roll it, fold into a rectangle again and let it chill for another 30–60 minutes. This process is called layering; it helps incorporate the rest of the butter into the dough. Repeat at least 4 more times for best results!
- When you are done layering, cut the dough in half and chill the rest. Start the filling process with the leftover dough. This ensures that the other half stays chilled and the dough does not soften, as it can melt and incorporate into the dough while folding and rolling, and then you will lose the layers that you just worked hard on.
- Roll out the dough and cut into circles, fill and press down to close (kinda like filling a dumpling). You have to be very quick with this because rolling out and leaving the dough exposed to room temperature will gradually melt the butter, and you will lose those layers! If you are part of the 1% with A/C in their homes, crank it up to 16° and take all the sweet time you need. (Meanwhile, this is my theory, idk if it will work)
- Line your filled pies on the baking tray (lightly grease it if it is not nonstick) and brush beaten egg white on them to give it that glistening golden brown look just like a beautiful melanin Goddess on the beach on a sunny day, too much? No, okay! Bake for 30 minutes, and you will have beautiful meat pies. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, or you can freeze it for another day.
Important things to note:
The KEY to a delicious and flaky meat pie is to keep all your ingredients COLD! This prevents the butter from melting into the flour prematurely and producing a HARD pastry.
Coldwater, cold butter, chilled dough! So the minute you roll out the butter, chill it in the fridge, rub in the butter, chill, fold in the butter with the dough, yes, CHILL!
Since I am lowkey incompetent, I did not take pictures, but you can watch this 30-second reel. Good luck, and may your ancestors help you out cause this puff pastry thing is not a walk in the park. If you do not trust them to guide you, just use the store-bought puff pastry.
Till next time…
👑🌻
