Scottish Meat Pies

These are traditional meat pies that are often served with a deeper well in the top used for placing mashed potatoes, peas, or gravy.

Pastry Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 oz. lard
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten

Filling Ingredients

1 lb lamb shoulder (or 1 lb chuck roast beef)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cloves of garlic, minced


For the pastry, place the lard in a saucepan with 10 oz of water and bring to a boil until the lard melts. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl and pour in the liquid. Stir with a wooden spoon until cool enough to handle, then knead until smooth. Cover and leave in a warm place until firmed up some.

Cut your meat into large chunks and place in a food processor with the standard "s" blade. Add two tablespoons of flour, seasonings and garlic, and pulse until mixture is well shredded and everything is incorporated.

Roll out crust to 1/8" - 1/4" thickness. Use a (3 1/2" - 4") biscuit cutter as a pie mold. Place the biscuit cutter on the crust. Using a knife, cut a circle about 1-2 inches larger than the biscuit cutter. Lift out this large circle and tuck it into the biscuit cutter, pressing the extra crust up the sides. Slip the biscuit cutter off of the crust and you have a little crust "pot" to hold the meat filling. Cut a crust lid for your little pies using the biscuit cutter.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you have a baking stone you'd like to use (nice, but not necessary), place it in the oven while it heats up.

Add 1/4 cup of meat filling to the crust "pot." Place the crust lid on top and gently press down onto the filling, crimping the sides together. You may have a small well on top, where the crust edge comes up higher than the pie itself, about 1/8". The pie crust will puff slightly while baking. Cut two vent slits in top of crust with a sharp knife.

Brush tops and sides of pies lightly with beaten egg. Place directly on baking stone, or on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and juices bubble through the vents. (Note: we forgot to brush with egg, so the picture shows pies not as golden as they would be otherwise.)

Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 7-10, depending on how thick you roll the crust/how much filling you use.

These are great with mashed potatoes (or turnips) and steamed broccoli. My husband likes to dip his bites of pie into Lea & Perrins thick Worcestershire sauce.