Friday Food Challenge Australia Trip #8
Aussie Meat Pies
Mrs. ET and I headed across the plains of Victoria from Melbourne, AU to Ballarat by train. Seventy-five minutes later, we coasted into the station surveying the historic town of Ballarat. Her niece and sister-in-law picked us up and the adventures began.
The main interest was Sovereign Hill. Replicating the Australian Gold Rush in the 1850s, reenactors peppered Sovereign Hill with authenticity. There were miners, majors, mothers, and bakers making meat pies.
“Have you ever had a meat pie?” Carol asked.
“Of course,” I answered like an Aussie know-it-all.
Only I did not know that the Aussie definition of a meat pie was so different than an American Meat Pie.
Carol could not wait to get her hands on an authentic Sovereign sausage roll, and told me I had to eat a meat pie or my life would not be complete.
“Where are the carrots, peas, and potatoes?”
“What part of meat pie didn’t you get, Marsha?”
“This looks like hamburger, not roast beef.”
“It’s minced meat pie. Try it.”
Remembering back to Christmas more than 50 years ago, I recalled my great-grandmother’s minced meat pie. It was a sweet spicy pie filled with chewy brown stuff called “mincemeat.” I did not think I wanted to try that again.
“Is it beef?”
“Yes, but minced meat can be beef, turkey, pork or any meat. It’s minced MEAT, Marsha.” (They sure are dense in the US, I could hear her thinking.)
I explained about mincemeat as best as my 60-year old memory of it would allow.
“It’s meat, Marsha. It’s not sweet.” Carol urged.
I gave in. I opened it and sure enough, it looked like hamburger.
“You’re not supposed to open it,” Carol admonished me sternly. “Put the top back on and put tomato sauce on it.”
“It’s too hot. I’ll burn my mouth!”
Oh no, I thought, catsup. Now it sounds like Mom’s meatloaf. That was awful! I can’t do this. What am I going to do now?
“You’re ruining it!” Carol said. “You’ve got to put tomato sauce on it!” She sounded frantic for me to do it right to get the full effect of the Aussie meat pie. I was frantic, too.
“Carol, I can’t put catsup on the top. How am I going to eat it? I’ll have catsup all over my hands and face and who knows what else.”
Carol was disgusted with me. I could tell by her sigh. “It’s not catsup. It’s tomato sauce anyway. You’re not doing it the Aussie (pronounced AUZZY) way. But go ahead JUST TRY IT!”
Gingerly I took a bite without catsup. It was different. I could not identify the flavor, though. Basically, it tasted somewhat like hamburger. The pie crust was flaky. The meat was meaty. I was hungry. The whole thing was gone in five minutes.
Thank you, Carol, Kate, Mandy, and Paul for such wonderful day at Sovereign Hill. I’ll have more to share about our amazing experiences in later posts.
Remembering Ballarat at Home
When I got home, I thought I would make some Aussie meat pies for Vince. I made my own pie crust, which was a mistake because I did not have eggs, and I like eggs and vinegar in my pie crust.
Rolling it out I soon realized that I did not make enough pie crust for two pies. I made another crust. Piecing it all together, I pinched it around the top and thought it looked good OK.
For the meat filling, I followed the recipe below – sort of.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/8984/aussie+meat+pies
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
- 500g lean beef mince
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 3/4 cup Campbell’s Real Stock Beef
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
- 1 teaspoon Vegemite
- 2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg, beaten
Since I did not have real stock beef, I used brown gravy mix. I did not use enough water. Also, I was missing Vegemite. OH WELL! Carol gave me some of that on a piece of bread at her house. It’s nutritious.
Proudly I baked the pies. Neither Vince nor I remembered to take a before picture. Vince asked about catsup to put on top.
“What’s the date on that bottle of catsup?” Vince asked as I retrieved the nearly empty bottle from the refrigerator.
“Um, January 2013. It’s fine.”
He did not use catsup either.
Here is Vince’s meat pie after picture.
I am not sure whether or not he liked it. Maybe if I had put vegemite in it.
It’s been in the refrigerator several days now. Carol would not let things like this go to waste. She was a fabulous cook and so efficient. I don’t think Carol would ever substitute things in a recipe. I wonder if I will ever learn?
Have you ever experimented before, and been a little sorry about the results?
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- #4 How Do You Use the Bathroom in Australia
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28 responses to “How to Eat Meat Pies at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat”
I don’t think the Vegemite would have made too much difference, and I love your comment “It’s nutritious” – that is politically correct or tongue in cheek? I am ‘Auzzy’ – but I hate Vegemite!!! Ghastly stuff that smells so strong…..
Your meat pie doesn’t look so bad. But the pastry has to be light and flaky.
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I think it is both PC and tongue in cheek. My friend Carol was kind to me. She said a lot of Auzzies offer a big spoonful to their Yankee friends. She just told me to put a tiny bit on a piece of toast. That was enough to convince me that I’d had plenty. Carol told me that it actually is nutritious. Maybe if I ate only Vegemite for a few days, I would lose weight. I would definitely eat less! 🙂
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Hahah! The Vegemite diet! I would be positively anorexic if I adopted that one! Yes, it is eaten in very small amounts as it is so rich. Apparently I ate it as a baby but my kids were not brought up on it! It is a bit of an Aussie joke to tease foreigners…. all in good fun.
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I preferred the Tim Tams! 🙂 I ate those for breakfast, but limited myself to 2 per day. Yum! 🙂
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Now you are talking! Tim Tams and Choc mint slice biscuits!! I regularly send Tim tams to my friends in Denmark, as they became addicted when they lived here! I can’t understand why they haven’t become widely available overseas. Everyone, absolutely everyone LOVES them.
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What’s not to love. I tried them in all flavors. I love the caramel the best. 🙂 yum!
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Nah…Gotta be original or Double coat!!!
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Seriously? You do not like caramel? Traitor! I thought we were Tim Tam buddies all the way. The very saddest thing about the Tim Tams was that I bought two boxes to bring home. I left them in Carol’s daughter’s refrigerator. I debated about buying some more at the airport but waited. I had not checked in and I was worried about my bag. Sure enough, it was a smidge too big, and I had to leave it or pay $125 to take it home. It was full. but I managed to retrieve a backpack I had to buy in Melbourne and I squeezed everything in it and my suitcase. Everything bulged except my empty bag looking like an open corpse lying by the trash can. No Tim Tams would have fit – even original flavor. Sadly, I left Tim Tamless. 😦
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Oh Marsha. That is tragic! I will have to send you some Caramel ones!! ASAP – or you could be in serious danger of withdrawal!!! LOL
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You are so funny. The cost of sending goods like that is astronomical. I think Carol told me something like $17. A bit much for a bit of sweets. 🙂 You are so kind. I’ll just have to come back, now. I’ve got to give Carol a break first. I had never spent 3 weeks with anyone, and I did with her. That says a lot for what a great hostess she is. 🙂
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No wonder your homemade pie didn’t work. Gravy mix instead of beef stock… This is what you needed. https://www.campbells.com/campbell-soup/condensed/beef-broth/ I applaud you for having a go and I think you should try again! Just don’t let Vince know you’re making more pies. He might suddenly have somewhere else to be!
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hahaha! I need to find the pie crust, too. The store just had the round fluted ones in the freezer section. Are yours frozen?
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I use shop bought shortcrust and puff pastry. Look here for some information on what to use in America. http://www.city-data.com/forum/food-drink/1961402-store-bought-pastry.html
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Thank you so much! You are awesome! 🙂
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Google is a wonderful thing. ☺
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Indeed it is. 🙂
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I’m sure if you asked Carol would send you some vegemite in a small jar just for cooking. lol
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I’m sure she wouldn’t, when the minimum postage up to 200 grams is $17!! That would be one expensive jar of vegemite.
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Yeah! and I did not exactly go ape over it. Now lamingtons, maybe. Pavlova, yum! 🙂 Pumpkin anything – YES!
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Knowing your penchant for substituting ingredients, I feel I should remind you that when you start making things with pumpkin, make sure you use a butternut squash. It’s what we call butternut pumpkin and it’s one of the best for cooking.
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LOL! I do love butternut squash, but your butternut squash looked different from ours. I fell in love with your version of pumpkin – as you know! 🙂
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I didn’t have butternut pumpkin at home.
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Ok, that light green and yellow fruit you called pumpkin was delicious. 🙂
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That was Kent pumpkin ☺
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hehehe. You could send me some for my birthday in November! mmmmm! 🙂
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Prese refer to the above comment re postage costs ☺☺☺
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That should read please!
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oops! I love it! 🙂
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