Murcian Meat Pie Recipe

Like virtually all meat pies, these can contain just about any mixture of meat scraps or leftovers you have handy: ground or shredded meat, organ meats, sausages, ham, whatever’s around. The crust is a two-part affair. The top is made from roll-laminated dough, the bottom from short crust, puff pastry or puff pastry scraps. Short crust is the most common bottom crust, or so I understand, but do as you wish. Obsessing about ingredients is against the spirit of savory pies, which are all about making do with whatever’s available. Note that if you’re using pre-cooked shredded meat you’ll probably want some sort of a binder to hold the filling together, like a beaten egg.

Please be a little patient with the quantities here since I’m not sure how much filling my pies will require. This recipe is a working draft.

For the Top Crust

Follow the same procedure for a recipe of “roll” laminated dough except use these slightly increased proportions. Roll your dough out to 38″ x 38″ and cut your sheet into SIX 6″ x 36″ strips:

19.25 ounces (3 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour
3/4 + 1/8 teaspoons salt
10.75 ounces (1 and 1/3 cups) lukewarm water
3.5 ounces lard or butter, or a combination of both, soft
about another six ounces of butter and/or lard for spreading on the dough sheet

For the Bottom Crust

16 ounces savory tart crust, pie dough, puff pastry or puff pastry scraps
egg wash

For the Filling

12 ounces uncooked ground meat (veal, beef, pork or a mixture)
3 ounces shredded cooked meat (beef, chicken, pork, what-have-you)
3 ounces cooked sausage, preferably spicy, Spanish chorizo if you can get it
3 ounces chopped salty ham (Spanish serrano, Italian prosciutto or American Smithfield preferred)
3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay out six 4-inch tart or mini quiche pans. Roll out the dough — whatever it may be — for the bottom crust and lay it into the pans and let it rest as you prepare the filling.

For the filling combine all the ingredients save for the sliced hardboiled eggs in a large bowl. Lightly mix it all together — don’t knead it into a paste — and portion it out among the pans. Lay the egg slices on top of the meat.

Brush egg wash around the rims of the bottom crust. Slice and shape the laminated dough and place the rounds on top of the filling. Let the pies rest for 10 minutes then bake for 35 minutes until deep golden brown.

Makes six 4-inch pies

16 thoughts on “Murcian Meat Pie Recipe”

  1. I keep misreading this headline as ‘Murican meat pie. But then it would contain corn dogs.

    Sounds delish, Joe.

    1. You betcha. What else might go into a ‘Merican meat pie…barbecue sauce, tater tots and jerky? Twinkies, cheez wiz and potato chips? It’s fun to think about.

      Thanks for that, Rachel!

      – Joe

  2. This sounds delicious. I like the combination of meats, and the cinnamon with garlic. But where do the sliced eggs come in — are they layered in the middle of the meat filling as it’s spooned into the bottom crust?

    1. Hey Pete!

      How silly of me to leave that out. You put’em on top of the meat mixture before the top crust goes on!

      Cheers,

      – Joe

    1. Enough people complained about my last accent that I’m not going down that road. But thanks Brian!

      – Joe

        1. Thanks, Linda! I’d just gotten off the phone with my baker buddy Tony (a real guy who talks like that) so I was in the zone. He’s from Brooklyn but there’s a lot of Brooklyn in a Chicago accent as well. Add a little Polish/Slavic crispness to a Brooklyn accent and you pretty much have Chicago.

          – Joe

  3. Speaking of meat pies, I have a recipe from my aunt for Chinese beef curry “dumplings” which are not really dumplings (see image on http://www.mamachu.com/Portals/1/CurryDumpling.jpg) but are more of a pastry made with a laminated dough of a different sort as follows:

    Dough A
    1 cup flour + 1/2 cup lard or shortening – mixed well together, split into 20 balls

    Dough B
    2 cups flour + 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup oil – mixed until dough just comes together (minimal mixing), then dough is thrown/slammed down onto counter 100x to “mix,” split into 20 balls

    Smoosh ball B into pancake, place ball A inside, wrap B around A to form ball in ball. Flatten with hand, then roll out with rolling pin until ~1/8′ thick. Roll up into a cigar then roll flat with rolling pin, and roll up into snail. Flatten with hand then roll into circle with rolling pin.

    My question is, with your vast pastry making experience, why does dough B need to be slammed down on the counter to mix as opposed to just mixing with a spoon or standing mixer? Is it to minimize or maximize gluten formation? What exactly does slamming down dough do to it?

    1. This sounds interesting. Is this a project in the making, Joe? Enjoying all of that snow still?

      1. It is…hopefully this weekend…though I seem to have a cold at the moment. Too much sledding! I shall get to it soon.

        Cheers,

        – Joe

    2. Hey Deb!

      You answered your own question! The idea is to develop the gluten so that the dough can stretch around the outside of the other ball. But you can do the same thing by kneading the dough for 5-7 minutes in a machine with a dough hook. Or by hand for about 10 minutes.

      Thanks for the question!

      – Joe

    3. The photo of the curry dumpling looks like the Karipok (or Curry Puff). It’s extremely popular in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Some bakers, even roll laminate, producing something akin to a savoury sfogliatelli. They are both beautiful and delicious.

      A recipe can be found here:
      http://www.indochinekitchen.com/recipes/curry-puff/

      1. The pocket pie/empanada/turnover form has a million uses does it not?

        Thanks, Martin!

        – Joe

    1. Meat pies around the world have a lot of similarities in my experience, L. Pretty much anything goes! Some recipes I found called for lamb’s brains. I guess any protein you happen to have lying around will work!

      Cheers,

      – Joe

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