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Saturday, March 21, 2015

3.1415 = Pi: Smoked Short Rib Pot Pie with an IPA Crust

As you may, or may not have heard, last Saturday was Pi Day.  Since this day only comes around once every 100 years, we decided to celebrate with some Short Rib Pot Pi.  Making this pie was an all day affair, but worth the effort and the wait.

First, we took some beautiful looking beef short ribs, coated them with some Oakridge Black Ops brisket rub, and slowly smoked them at 250 F with some pecan wood.




I took the ribs to an internal temperature of 165 F.  I didn't want the meat to be fall apart at this point.  The short ribs will get to that point while the pies are cooking.

Next, I made a batch of Milk Stout Onion Gravy for a base:

 3 tablespoons butter
 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
 1/2 cup Milk Stout
 1 (14.5 ounce) can beef stock
 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
 salt and ground black pepper to taste

Basically, you slowly caramelize your onions with the butter on low heat for 40 minutes.  Then, add your flour and cook for five more minutes, then add the rest of your ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes or until thick.


After the 40 minutes of caramelization:


After 30 minutes simmering:


While the gravy was simmering, I roasted three carrots, two diced potatoes, and two ribs of celery in the oven, with a little bit of olive oil.  Roast time was 60 minutes at 350 F with a stir after 30 minutes.


Hope was also getting into the act.  She whipped up a batch of pie dough using a recipe from over at the Eatapedia website.  Our substitutions were to use butter instead of lard and for liquid, we used iced Magic Hat #9 Not Quite IPA.


While Hope was rolling out the crusts, I cubed the short ribs and mixed along with the roasted veggies into the Milk Stout Onion Gravy.


I filled the pie crusts, then Hope applied the top layer of crust and crimped them shut with a small fork.  She has much more patience for pastry than I do.



Then, we baked the pies at 375 F for one hour in a conventional oven.  Here is the final product.


I gotta say, these were some of the best pot pies we have ever made.  Smoked beef and the rich milk stout  onion gravy paired well together.  The pie dough made with the IPA had an extra layer of flavor as well.  The only change I will make is to double the onion gravy recipe.  The filling needed a bit more liquid.  Other than that, these pot pies were a great way to celebrate Pi Day.

We will not be around for the next Pi Day, but we will be making these pies again for sure.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill


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