Steak & Kidney Pie memories

I’ve finally got the meal plopping. I’m making a Steak & Kidney Pie – very traditional. I’ve not made one for years, decades even. I’ve made many a steak pie but not one with kidney.

I’m transported in my mind to Elterwater in the Lake District. Many years ago, the 1980s I’d guess, Mrs Fry ran the Britannia pub there. She made the most delicious black-peppery steak & kidney pie. It was worth the trip out that way just to taste it. It was a source of great unhappiness to us when she & her husband separated & she moved to pastures new. I’ve never tasted a pie like it since.

I’m just hoping this pie is going to work out well. I’m adding some mushrooms as well as a good dash of Worcestershire sauce to pep it up. But for now, the meat is plopping away. I’ve yet to make the pastry but I won’t be able to put that on the pie until the filling is cooked & cooled, so there’s plenty of time to get around to making the pastry. My hands could do with cooling after spending so much time stirring browning meat, frying onions & mushrooms & stirring in the stock. Cold hands make better pastry & my hands are usually a lot colder than they are at the moment.