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Baron of Boscobel Pie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English type of Pie
Once described as Corned Beef Hash meets the Sausage Roll.
The history of the now famous Boscobel Pie is not entirely clear. Some scholars believe it has stronger links to Saudi Arabia than Shropshire, but most are of the opinion that anything so quintessentially British could only originate from the UK.
The pie is made with two distinct pastries. A flavoured shortcrust pastry on the base and a flaky pastry for the lid. this encloses a filling of corned beef, potato and spices, traditionally the pie is topped with fresh ground black pepper before baking.
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Regional variances
- 3 Recipe
History
Popular Folklore is that a cook by the name of Fanny, under the employment of the Gifford family who previously owned Boscobel house in Shropshire came up with the pie as a way to create a warming nutritious meal that could easily travel and be consumed without the need of cutlery and plate ware, and Folklore tells that the need for such a dish was that King Charles II was hiding nearby in an oak tree after suffering defeat after the Battle of Worcester from where he could see roundhead troops searching for him. The sustenance greatly pleased the king and became a favourite part of his diet if hiding in priest holes and during his many years of traveling while exiled in Europe. Eventually returning to London and spreading the popularity of the pie that was now fashionable. It could be worth noting that one of the principal ingredients, the potato, at that time would be considered food only for the nobility as it was a rare commodity and not widely cultivated, having only first arrived in the united kingdom around fifty years previously.
It has also been suggested that the famous pie is not as historic as many believe. Some claiming the original pie was created by a British chef, while working at the British embassy in Riyadh. The current Lord of Boscobel Gerry Grimstone was a frequent visitor to Riyadh in his position as Minister of investment and would normally reside in the British ambassador's residence during these trips. The chef was asked to prepare a light, late night snack for the guests, and from previous experience, knew that sausage rolls and slightly spicy corned beef hash were dietary favourites of Lord Grimstone, so he combined the two and created the first Lord Boscobel Pie. The recipe travelled with Gerry back to Westminster, were it found popularity and soon spread.
Although there is little documented evidence to support either hypothesis the number of regional varieties of the dish would indicate that it's presence in British culinary history would be fairly historic.
Regional variances
Although there are many obvious variations of the dish as you travel around Great Britain most still retain the same basic format of two varieties of pastry, a filling of spicy corned beef and potato and a sprinkling of black pepper on the top.
The classic round shape of the pie is prevalent in the English home counties. however as you as you travel to the south west of England around Hampshire and Dorsetshire the pie takes on a more "pasty" appearance.
Further north, Lincolnshire and above, the pie still retains the same filling and the black pepper topping, but either the flavoured shortcrust or the puff pastry is removed and only one pastry remains. There is a fairly simple explanation for these regional transformations, and that is the mini pie dish was limited in its everyday usage and therefore mainly to be found in more affluent kitchens, however most of the population possessed a metal baking sheet
Recipe
For the flavoured shortcrust
200g Butter
400g Flour
¼ tsp White pepper
½ tsp Salt
100g Tomato puree
One sprig of fresh thyme, or one teaspoon of dried.
Rub all the dry ingredients together with the butter until appearing like breadcrumbs, add the tomato puree and knead until a dough is formed. Cover and leave to rest for one hour.
For the pie filling
1 can 340g corned beef
1 large potato about 300g
1 clove of garlic chopped
100g diced onion
150g tomato sauce (not ketchup)
Dry or fresh chilli to taste, in the original it was two fresh hot chillies
Oil for frying.
Don’t peel the potato just scrub it clean. Dice the potato into small chunks, slightly smaller than one centimetre, shallow or deep fry until golden brown, drain and set aside.
In a saucepan fry the onion garlic and chilli until just cooked, add the corned beef and tomato sauce, heat stirring until combined. Add the diced potato stir and leave to cool slightly.
For the pie top
1 block of supermarket puff pastry (life is too short to make your own)
Cracked black pepper or mill black pepper.
1 beaten egg to glaze the top
Construction
Roll out the shortcrust and cut circles the size for your pie tin, line each indent, add a heaped amount of filling, cut circles of puff pastry for the top and seal with a little egg to the base. Brush the top with more egg and sprinkle with black pepper.
Bake in a hot oven about 180c (170c fan) for around 20 mins.
Serve warm.
