Pie and mash
Photo: Goddards Pies Limited · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Pieminister started in Bristol in 2003, baking pies at its Stokes Croft site and selling them at festivals until the format stuck nationwide. The Mothership, a pie mounted on mash with gravy and minted peas, became the company's calling card, and the Broad Quay restaurant keeps the hometown link. Bristol's pie tradition runs older and wider, from bakery pasty counters to gastropub pie nights, but the modern gourmet pie owes this city its revival.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 1 hrTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 600g beef chuck, diced
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 300ml ale
  • 300ml beef stock
  • 2 tablespoons flour, plus extra
  • 320g all-butter puff pastry
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 800g potatoes for mashing
  • 50g butter and a splash of milk
  • Frozen peas and mint sauce

Method

  1. Toss the beef in seasoned flour, brown it hard, then soften the onions and carrots in the same pot.
  2. Add ale and stock, scrape up the crust, and simmer covered for about 2 hours until the beef is tender and the gravy thick.
  3. Fill pie dishes, lid with puff pastry, brush with egg and bake at 200C for 25 to 30 minutes until burnished.
  4. Mash the potatoes with butter and milk, and stir mint sauce through cooked peas.
  5. Plate mash first, pie on top, peas beside, gravy over everything.

Tip from the editors. Cool the filling fully before lidding the pie or the pastry base steams instead of crisping.

Where to eat pie and mash

Pie and mash in Bristol

Pieminister ★ 3.8

£ BritishHarbourside

Pieminister began in Bristol in 2003 and its Broad Quay restaurant plates the Mothership: pie, mash, gravy and minted peas facing the harbour.

TryPie, mash and gravy

TipSerious vegan and gluten-free pie options make this the group-friendly cheap dinner in the centre.

Directions

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Pie and mash in London

The Eagle ★ 4.3

££ GastropubClerkenwell

Britain's first gastropub on Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell London, opened 1991 by Mike Belben and David Eyre, still serves Mediterranean-leaning.

OrderThe Bife Ana steak sandwich, on the menu since 1991, and a pint of bitter.

TipWalk-in only. The chalkboard menu rewrites every day at 12:00; the best dishes go by 14:00 on a busy lunch.

Directions

Quality Chop House ★ 4.3

£££ Modern BritishClerkenwell

The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking.

OrderThe famed confit potato, then mince and potatoes off the daily menu, with a bottle from the shop next door.

TipThe wine shop next door is corkage-free if you buy a bottle there. Lunch takes walk-ins at the counter Tue-Sat.

Directions Book

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