Name: Beefsteak Pie
Ingredients: 2 pounds steak, cut into thin pieces; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; chopped herbs (to taste); ½ pint water; 2 tablespoons coloring; pastry (½ inch thick)

Beefsteak Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Season the steak pieces with salt, pepper, and chopped herbs.
Arrange the seasoned steak symmetrically in a pie dish, forming a high center.
Mix the water with the coloring and pour it over the meat.

Bake

Cover the pie with pastry and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for one hour.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Steak: Forms the filling and provides the meat flavor and chewy texture of the pie.
Pastry: Encloses the filling and browns in the oven to form a crisp top crust.
Coloring: Adds color to the gravy poured over the meat.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.