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Photograph of Beef and Guinness Pie with Mushrooms

Beef and Guinness Pie with Mushrooms

A delicious savoury pie filled with fall-apart tender beef, loaded with mushrooms and cooked in thick and luscious sauce made from Guinness, beef stock and fresh herbs. Serves 4-6

Course Dinner, Lunch, Supper
Cuisine Irish
Keyword beef, fish pie, guinness, mushrooms
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the beef and Guinness:

  • 1kg braising steak such as blade or chuck cut into 4 -5 cm (1½ – 2 inch) chunks
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 40g plain/all-purpose flour
  • 5 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 225g small button mushrooms, trimmed
  • 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ½ - 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 300ml Guinness
  • 300ml beef broth/stock
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Topping:

  • 320g chilled pre-rolled puff pastry
  • a little beaten egg for brushing

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. For the beef and Guinness: season the beef with the salt and pepper and toss with the flour.

  3. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large pan and brown the meat in batches until well coloured. Set aside.

  4. Add another tablespoon of the oil, half the butter and the mushrooms to the pan and fry briefly. Set aside.

  5. Add the rest of the oil and butter and the onions and fry over a medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add ½ teaspoon sugar and cook for a further 5 minutes until browned. (See Recipe Notes)

  6. Add the mushrooms and beef back to the pan and add any remaining flour, the Guinness, stock, thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce.

  7. Stir well, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours or until the beef is fall-apart tender. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper and sugar, if necessary.

  8. Ladle the liquid out of the pan and into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and reduce until you have around 500 – 600ml.

  9. Remove the bay leaves and thyme twigs from the stew. Put the meat, onions and mushrooms into a pie dish. Barely cover with sauce. Leave to cool.

  10. Strain any remaining sauce to serve on the side with the pie.

  11. Top with pastry: preheat oven to Fan Oven 180°C/200°C/400°F/Gas 6.

  12. Use the pie dish as a stencil to cut out the pastry. If the pastry is not quite the right size, patch some pastry on from the remaining pastry, to create the correct shape. You won’t notice when it is cooked!

  13. Cut out 1 cm strips from the remaining pastry and keep all the scraps.

  14. Wet the edges of the pie plate with water and use the 1 cm strips of pastry to cover the rim.

  15. Add the pastry top and seal the edges with a fork and trim with a knife.

  16. Brush the pastry with egg wash.

  17. Use remaining pastry scraps to decorate the pie. I tried to make some shamrock! Brush these with egg wash also.

  18. Make 4 small slices in the pastry before cooking. Cook in the centre of a preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes, or until everything is piping hot and the pastry has risen and is golden brown.

  19. Serve hot with your choice of potatoes and fresh vegetables.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • chopping board and knife
  • cast iron casserole or saucepan
  • pie dish

Onions:

It is important to cook the onions for 20 minutes, because as they soften and caramelise, they sweeten. Guinness can be quite bitter, so you need the added sweetness to counteract the bitterness.

Sugar:

Add a little bit of sugar to start with, mix well, taste and adjust the amount, if necessary. It will vary both according to the sweetness of the onions and your own personal taste.

Reducing the gravy:

Do not reduce the gravy in the pan with the beef, as cooking on a high heat may toughen the meat, which should be very soft and falling apart.