A pastry-lidded pie on a heap of mash with gravy and minted peas, the comfort format a Bristol company turned into a national habit from Stokes Croft.

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.

Where to eat Pie and mash in Bristol

1 editor pick for Pie and mash in Bristol, ranked by editorial score. All Bristol signature dishes · Pie and mash across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves Serves 43 hrIntermediate

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.

Editor tip. Cool the filling fully before lidding the pie or the pastry base steams instead of crisping.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy.