What I really want to figure out how to make are meat pies like the ones I had at the Kansas City Irish Fest last summer. I looked up the supplier on the internet, and it appears they are in California, though they do mail order as well. What was great about them, aside from the fillings, was the shape: kind of ... vertical, like a Hostess fruit pie, only rounder, like, well, a beer can. Wrapped in some paper and perfect for eating while walking around. I would love to know how to make meat pies that way at home.

A rerun of Good Eats regarding pot pie while I cleaned out my email tonight enraged me: it featured 3 travesties against pot pie, and no real pot pie! First, an anglicized quaille en sarcophage with a semi-edible crust; next, the abominable pot-pie-filling-topped-with-something-resembling-puff-pastry; finally, chicken sausage gravy topped with biscuits. I don't know where we went wrong, but why is there such a backlash against real pot pie? What's wrong with a pie full of meat, veggies, and gravy? A large, family-style chicken pot pie happens to be one of my favorite comfort dishes; I'm glad I don't need to resort to obtaining it outside the home.

"Just wanted to second the parbaking recommendation. I've only made pot pie twice, but I basically treated the dough like a quiche dough and weighted it down with foil and beans for 20-25 minutes, then filled, topped and finished it. The only downside was that it was more challenging to get the top layer of dough to merge with the sides without breaking up or deforming the fluted edge."

I got a pretty decent result with a pre-baked oil crust filled with the good stuff, with a *biscuit* topping. Two kinds of crust, plus the leftovers from a roasted chicken earlier in the week, plus potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots cut up and oil-roasted for the purpose, plus medium-weight white sauce, plus a few (well, enough) peas.

As I said: pretty decent, if a bit tetchy and time-consuming.

Katie wrote:What I really want to figure out how to make are meat pies like the ones I had at the Kansas City Irish Fest last summer. I looked up the supplier on the internet, and it appears they are in California, though they do mail order as well. What was great about them, aside from the fillings, was the shape: kind of ... vertical, like a Hostess fruit pie, only rounder, like, well, a beer can. Wrapped in some paper and perfect for eating while walking around. I would love to know how to make meat pies that way at home.

You can get meat pies and bridies from Winston's. They are a must have every time I go to the Milwaukee Irish Fest.

Winston's has a few locations in Chicago and Tinley Park.

http://www.winstonsmarket.net/

Thanks, Seamus!

Kid Charlemagne wrote:Very interesting CindyG! I may have to arrange for a pickup since I'm not in your delivery area.

Back in the day (college) I practically lived off of the Banquet Turkey Pot Pies - I could get them as low as 39 cents apiece. The Marie Callendar ones are quite good, but I found some really excellent ones at Mike's Market in Villa Park (don't know if the also carry them at Casey's). They have them in their freezer section - chicken, turkey (I think), beef, and sheperd's pie.

http://www.caseysmarketonline.com/

I no longer live in the nighborhood so I don't get them any more...

I'll second the pie's from Mike's. Especially in the winter month's, we'll often have all of these pies in the freezer. They run about $5 and are very nicely prepared with potatoes, carrots, and peas. Chicken, turkey, beef, and Shepherd's pie are also available, with Chicken being my favorite.

John

P.S. You know, I was just at Casey's this weekend, been spending a lot of time in Western Springs at The Fruit Market, but did not look to see if they had the pies as well. I would assume they do but, you could always phone first.

I've had a few chicken pot pies from Mariano's ($6.00) that are much better than any freezer case ones I've had. I like to add a little more pepper to them myself, but they are very good if you are in the mood for one. They also carry beef pot pies.

the chicken pot pie at bang bang pie shop is quite delicious. their lardy crust is awesome, as usual, and if i have one complaint, it's that i'd like more carrots and peas in the pie. usually pot pies err in the direction of not enough chicken, but i haven't found this to be a problem at bang bang. there is abundant shredded chicken to be found, and it reheats beautifully at home. what a great crust....