Cooking advice please?

Chatalouge

I'm not skilled at cooking but i always do make an attempt from time to time. Last night i attempted to make a steak and ale pie. I followed the recipe and cooking instructions, however the steak in the pie was so tough it was like eating meat chewing gum :rotfl:the ale gravy and the pastry was perfect its just a shame the steak wasn't. I used braising steak as the recipe suggested. Now looking online i cant find what i did wrong for the steak to be like it was. Hopefully someone can help me out.

I'll say what i did with the steak. Tossed it in flour, browned it off in a pan, then put the steak in a saucepan with onions i had already cooked. I poured 250ml of ale in the pan the steak was cooked in, brought it to the boil, poured it over the steak, then added 250ml of beef stock, brought that to the boil for 3 minutes and let it simmer for 45 minutes. That is what the recipe said.

Emm-in-a-pickle

I love steak & ale, it`s so disappointing when you can hardly eat it, but don`t give up. I can`t say `where it went wrong`, except it would have been tender cooked Slower & Longer.
I`ve used shin beef or stewing beef, browned quickly and lightly, but not the boiling part - then a few hours in either slow cooker or heavy casserole in a low oven. If you want a quicker pie, cook the filling the day before and then put the pastry on and in the oven for when you want it. At least then you will know the innards are ok or not.

Chatalouge

Emm-in-a-pickle wrote: »

I love steak & ale, it`s so disappointing when you can hardly eat it, but don`t give up. I can`t say `where it went wrong`, except it would have been tender cooked Slower & Longer.
I`ve used shin beef or stewing beef, browned quickly and lightly, but not the boiling part - then a few hours in either slow cooker or heavy casserole in a low oven. If you want a quicker pie, cook the filling the day before and then put the pastry on and in the oven for when you want it. At least then you will know the innards are ok or not.

How much longer should i cook it for?

skogar

Tend to do my steak and ale pies in the oven (or predo the meat in the slow cooker) rather than simmering on the hob. Braising steak takes a while to become tender so I suspect it wasn't cooked for long enough.
If making a casserole in the oven I usually do 150oC for 3 hours (although 180oC for 2 hours should be OK). If you simmer on the hob then I would try doing it for longer 45 minutes seems a bit short. A quick trawl on the internet for beef stew cooked on top of the stove seems to give instructions to simmer for about 2 hours so I'd probably try something like that next time. If you test it with a fork you should be able to tell if it is tender.

Chatalouge

skogar wrote: »

Tend to do my steak and ale pies in the oven (or predo the meat in the slow cooker) rather than simmering on the hob. Braising steak takes a while to become tender so I suspect it wasn't cooked for long enough.
If making a casserole in the oven I usually do 150oC for 3 hours (although 180oC for 2 hours should be OK). If you simmer on the hob then I would try doing it for longer 45 minutes seems a bit short. A quick trawl on the internet for beef stew cooked on top of the stove seems to give instructions to simmer for about 2 hours so I'd probably try something like that next time. If you test it with a fork you should be able to tell if it is tender.

I'll try for 2 hours next time, i'm not going to let this defeat me. I read another thread on here about slow cookers and see you mention it to. Are they actually any good? And what is a good price for a slow cooker?

nanto3girls

I always use my slow cooker, to cook meat for a pie.Leave it on all day, you won't overcook the meat.I cook it the day before I want the pie.

nmlc

Hi

You've been given some excellent advice already, I would agree that maybe the meat needed longer slower cooking. A slow cooker would be ideal for this, maybe you could double the recipe for the meat part, cook that in a slow cooker, and have the meat as a beef and ale casserole 1 night and then use the rest as the meat part of a steak and ale pie for another night or freeze it? Slow cookers vary in price depending on the make and size, there's lots to choose from, the 1 I use is a big family size one, that has a low, high and auto setting on it, on auto it starts of cooking at a high temperature but then automatically turns itself down, I've found that a casserole cooked at this setting is the best. I'm grateful I've still got it as it was a wedding present - I've been married 22 years. They're brilliant also if you work, you can just put everything in turn it on before you go out and when you get home you've got a cooked meal.

HTH

nmlc x

Gigervamp

I'm surprised the recipe said to only cook the meat for 45 minutes. Braising steak needs long slow cooking.
I'd make the steak part of the pie the night before. This will allow you to cook it for a few hours, then when it's in the fridge overnight, the flavours will improve.

Chatalouge

nmlc wrote: »

Hi

You've been given some excellent advice already, I would agree that maybe the meat needed longer slower cooking. A slow cooker would be ideal for this, maybe you could double the recipe for the meat part, cook that in a slow cooker, and have the meat as a beef and ale casserole 1 night and then use the rest as the meat part of a steak and ale pie for another night or freeze it? Slow cookers vary in price depending on the make and size, there's lots to choose from, the 1 I use is a big family size one, that has a low, high and auto setting on it, on auto it starts of cooking at a high temperature but then automatically turns itself down, I've found that a casserole cooked at this setting is the best. I'm grateful I've still got it as it was a wedding present - I've been married 22 years. They're brilliant also if you work, you can just put everything in turn it on before you go out and when you get home you've got a cooked meal.

HTH

nmlc x

I'm going to look more into slow cookers. I do work and most days when i get home i cant be bothered to cook something that takes longer than 30 minutes

JIL

scientifically you need to cook the meat long enough to let the muscle fibres (collagen) break down, the cheap meat comes from worked muscles in the animal as opposed to sirloin and rump steak. Cooking on a long slow heat makes for a tender end dish. It needs at least 2 hours.

babyshoes

As others have said, low and slow is the way to go for cheaper cuts. In future, check the meat before you put it in the pastry - it should be soft, and tender enough to pull apart with a spoon.

I don't tend to follow recipes like this exactly in terms of time, just cook it until it's done as slightly different cuts can take different amounts of time - and as others have said it's difficult to overcook it if you keep it very low and check on it every so often.