A hand-held pie of beef in gravy under shortcrust, eaten hot with tomato sauce; the Tiger pie is topped with mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy.

Minced beef is the traditional filling, though chunkier diced beef pies are now more popular. Sargents, once New South Wales' leading pie brand, traced its pie making to 1891 and has not been made since 2022; the Four'n Twenty pie was first produced in 1947 in a Bendigo bakery. In Sydney, Harry "Tiger" Edwards opened a caravan cafe near the gates of the Woolloomooloo naval dockyard, and Harry's Cafe de Wheels still serves the Tiger pie, named for him, at its original Woolloomooloo site.

Where to eat Australian Meat Pie in Sydney

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Make it at home

Serves 43 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • Filling: 600g beef chuck cut into 1.5cm dice, 1 tbsp plain flour, 1 onion finely diced, 2 garlic cloves crushed, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 400ml beef stock, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp Vegemite, 1 bay leaf, 30g unsalted butter, salt and pepper
  • Pastry: 250g shortcrust pastry (for the bases), 250g puff pastry (for the lids)
  • 1 egg beaten, for egg wash
  • Tomato sauce, to serve

Method

  1. Toss the diced beef with the flour and season. Heat the butter in a heavy pot and brown the beef in batches; remove.
  2. Soften the onion and garlic in the same pot, stir in the tomato paste, then return the beef.
  3. Add the stock, Worcestershire, Vegemite and bay leaf. Simmer covered for 90 minutes, then uncovered for another 30 minutes until the gravy is thick.
  4. Cool the filling completely (overnight is best).
  5. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line four 12cm pie tins with shortcrust pastry, pressing into the edges.
  6. Spoon in the cold filling. Top each pie with a puff-pastry lid, trim and seal the edges, then brush with egg wash.
  7. Cut a steam vent in each lid and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is deeply golden.
  8. Cool for 5 minutes before serving with tomato sauce.

Editor tip. Cook the filling the day before; cold filling gives a much cleaner pie that doesn't blow out the pastry seal.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg.