Great British Bake Off’s north-east star Norman Calder presents his latest video with the Press and Journal in association with Laing’s of Inverurie.
The retired Merchant Navy radio officer from Buckie, won the hearts of millions of viewers with his unassuming manner and rustic cooking style when he appeared on the BBC phenomenon.
The 67-year-old, who has been dubbed “Stormin’ Norman”, said he nearly backed out of the show after applying. But his excited family left him with no choice but to go through with it.
Now, in an exclusive video series filmed for the Press and Journal website, Norman is using the luxury cooking equipment and kitchens of Laing’s of Inverurie, leader in the design, supply and installation of luxury kitchens for over 20 years, to teach burgeoning bakers new tricks.
This week, it’s scotch pies.
Ingredients
Filling
500G best quality minced steak <10% fat
450ml beef stock
40g breadcrumbs
2 drops or so gravy browning
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Pie dough
500G self-raising our
1 teaspoon
150g pure lard
10 fl ozs boiling water
Method
Wash and dry your hands
The Filling
Place the minced steak and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Add the stock, gravy browning, pepper, salt,
nutmeg. Mix well together in a mixer or by hand and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
The Pie Crust
Add the flour and salt to a large bowl.
Melt the lard in the boiling water and mix well with the flour and salt.
Once you have made a firm dough leave to cool for a few minutes to make it easier to handle.
Assembly
Set your oven to 200 degrees C. Divide the dough into two parts, roughly 2/3 and 1/3.
Roll out the larger part very thinly and cut to fit your pie cases. If using cases of 110mm x 30mm deep. You should have enough dough for a total of eight pies.
Run a brush with beaten egg round the rim and fill with approximately 80g of the filling. You can adjust this more or less according to taste.
Be aware however if too full the filling may boil over. Once filling, roll out the remaining third of thedough. Cut out your lids, making a small 6-8mm hole in the centre.
You can make these a bit thicker than the case. Place on top of the pie, seal well by crimping the edge and glaze the top with beaten egg.
Once all pies done , place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 180 degrees C for a further 20 minutes.
If the tops show signs of over browning just over them with a piece of aluminium foil for the last 5 minutes or so.
Once baked place the pies on a cooling rack. Can be frozen but defrost completely before reheating 25 minutes at 160 degrees C.