Australian Meat Pie

Recipe by: Bob Wells #326 wel@EUROCONTROL.DE Making the filling:
Place meat into the pan, stir over low heat until meat is well
browned. Drain off any surplus fat. Add crumbled stock cubes, water,
salt, pepper and nutmeg, stir until boiling, reduce heat, cover,
simmer gently for 20 min, remove from heat. Combine extra water and
flour, stir until flour mixture is smooth. Add flour mixture to
meat, stir until combined. Return to heat, stir until meat boils and
thickens. Add soy sauce (to give brown colour), stir until combined.
Simmer, uncovered, 5 to 10 min; remove from heat allow to become cold.

Making the pie base: Sift flour and salt into basin. Place water and
dripping into saucepan, stir until dripping melts; remove from heat.
Make a well in centre of dry ingredients, add liquid, stir until
combined. (2a. If you’re in a hurry, just use premade (bought)
pastry. It works ok, too. -JN)

Turn out onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly. Roll out pastry
to line eight greased pie tins. [We use “real” aluminium 6 or 8 in
pie casings – JN] Cut excess pastry around sides of pie plates using
a sharp knife. Fill centres with cold meat filing.

Pie crust: Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface, cut out
rounds for top of pies, use a saucer as a guide. Wet edges of base
pastry, and gently press tops into place, trim around edges with a
sharp knife. Brush tops with combined egg-yolk and water.

Cooking: Bake in hot oven 5 minutes or until golden brown, reduce
heat to moderate, cook further 10 min.