Propah Eastend Pie, Mash and Licqour

Name: Propah Eastend Pie, Mash and Licqour
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 1 white onion; 500 g beef mince; 50 ml beef stock; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; 340 g self raising flour; 225 g beef suet; 4 tablespoons water; 1 (425 g) packet premade puff pastry (I got lazy here); 2 pints fish stock; 2/3 pint vegetable stock; 30 g chopped fresh parsley; 1 lb potato; cornflour; salt and pepper; chilli vinegar; 1 (250 g) packet dried marrowfat peas

Submitted by Bunny Mazonas

"I'm an Essex girl by birth and an Eastender by heritage, so pie mash and licquor was a childhood treat. You can imagine my horror upon moving to Kent to find that no one outside of London has even heard of the dish, let alone tasted it. So I languished for years without. Sure, I could just get a meat pie and somemash, but normal meat pies are not the same, and the licqour is just impossible. Fortunately, through much experimenting my Mum and I now have a suitable substitute that tastes as good (or bad!) as the real thing!"

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photo by m_a8898

Ready In:: 55mins
Ingredients:: 16
Serves:: 4

ingredients

1 white onion
500 g beef mince
50 ml beef stock
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
340 g self raising flour
225 g beef suet
4 tablespoons water
1 (425 g) packet premade puff pastry (I got lazy here)
2 pints fish stock
²⁄₃ pint vegetable stock
30 g chopped fresh parsley
1 lb potato
cornflour
salt and pepper
chilli vinegar
1 (250 g) packet dried marrowfat peas

directions

To make the suet pastry base for the pies, combine the flour, suet and water with a pinch of salt, adding more water if needed, to form a rollable dough.
Roll the suet pastry very thin, approximately 2mm at most, and line buttered foil pie cases with it.
Finely chop the onion and brown, then add the beef mince. Cook until the beef is browned and add the beef stock, worcester sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 20 min on a medium heat, then drain excess juice and add a little cornflour to absorb the rest.
Meanwhile, peel, quarter and boil the potatoes.
Roll out the puff pastry (shortcrust is also acceptable) until almost as thin as the pastry bases and cut tops for each pie.
Spoon the beef mixture evenly amongst the pies, then apply the tops to the pie using a little water to moisten the edges for pinching.
Add about an inch of water to a roasting tray and put in the oven on a high heat. Sit the foil pie dishes in the water to steam cook the pies.
While the pies are cooking, combine the fish and vegetable stock in a pot with the parsley and a pinch of salt. Cook on a medium heat to a rolling boil. Add cornflour gradually until the sauce becomes thick and slightly translucent.
Once the potatoes are cooked to a soft, fluffy consistency drain them and mash without butter to produce a dry mash.
Prepare the dried peas according to packet instructions.
Once pies are brown on top, upturn them on a plate and serve upside-down, with a side of mash and mushy peas. Pour over with the licqour and chilli vinegar. The vinegar is essential for the licqour to taste right, but should be added separately. Lush!

Questions & Replies

I was under the impression that eel is involved? Liquor? I m really really curious to try this as I’m from new Mexico and am Mexico and being that we eat menudo and some foods people think ??? We’re really used to eating like poor. SoS... chili on rice.. pork rinds just things people would never eat.

Deidre C.

Reviews

no no no. This recipe is NOT pie mash. I was born 5 mins from the London Docks, and pie mash was a regular with our family. regardless of who the proprietor was, they were ALL extremely busy. You would normally que to get a table. They were far too busy to mess about with TWO types of pastry, worcester sauce and onions. Never ever ever seen peas served with pie mash. Pie Mash was supposed to be a QUICK, CHEAP meal, as basic as they could make it. If you want to make authentic pie mash, start by being as cheap as you can. I have tried many times to cook pie mash, its ok, but it falls very short of the real thing. In my opinion the secret that everyone seems to talk about is the pastry. The lid is soft, (I can never get my lid soft) not like shortcrust. And I have a sneaky feeling its also something to do with the ovens? I am sure your recipe above is very nice and tasty, but its NOT pie mash. Sorry. If anyone knows how to get the lid soft, please let me know

Padal
Born in the East End, grew up on pie and mash with Lamb meat in it, and never saw peas at all only pie and mash jellied eels and stewed eels, ner ever peas, but your version tastes good so go with the times, got the pastry spot on

Marion K.
this recipe brings back fondest memories from my childhood as my nan used to take me to the local pie'n'mash shop as a special treat for me, im now 62 yrs old and i so miss having pie'n'mash as i now live in the northeast of england but thanks to your website i can now relive my memories and do the recipe for my self now thank you very much you've made an old true eastender very happy thank you once again

Peter tigerseye
I was born in south east london and grew up in north kent.. where pie n mash has always been a family treat!!...in fact the oldest pie n mash shop is menzies south london!!!..by the way i have often visted rural essex ( east anglia) and never ever saw a good old pie and mash shop..it maybe only a london north kent thing!

paulo l.
not a bad recipe, the 4 table spoons of water is obviously not enough to make the suet pasty, used around 200-220mls of cold water instead. tried the puff pasty for the lid and im not sure its 100% correct, will try again sooon with a shortcrust lid and see how that goes

Laurence T.