Pot Luck Homemade meat and veggie pies… a slice of heaven

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Meat and gravy are, well, meat and gravy. But add a flaky crust and you’ve got something special. Just ask anyone who works at Frank’s Bake Shop in Bangor.

“On Wednesdays, holy smokes,” Susan Lockard said during a lull last week. “It’s mostly all the turkey pies.”

People have lined up on Wednesdays, first for chicken pies, later for turkey or beef pies, “forever and ever,” said Bernadette Gaspar, a daughter of the bakery’s founders.

Except for the switch from chicken to turkey, the recipe hasn’t changed in more than 50 years. Each Wednesday, bakers work from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., cooking 20 or so turkeys and turning out anywhere from 120 to 280 pies. There are customers with standing orders, customers who call ahead, and customers who come in too late to get a pie. But that usually only happens once.

It happened to Debbie Hayes a while back, so last week, she called ahead for her two pies.

“I wanted mine all cooked and I wanted them to be here,” Hayes said. “Sometimes I’ve come in and they’re not here.”

Between 4 and 5 p.m. last Wednesday, all but a handful of the customers who stopped at Frank’s bought turkey pies. That’s the way it always has been, and Gaspar knows why.

“I think it’s comfort food,” she said after checking on stacks of pies in a tall, closetlike warmer in the kitchen. Gaspar said the pies bring back childhood memories for many people. “In the ’50s, after the war, mother stayed home. She baked. She did everything.”

Today, more often than not, mother doesn’t stay home. With both parents working long hours, it’s hard to have a home-cooked meal every night, but it’s easy to pick up a turkey pie on the way back from work.

“People like the convenience,” Gaspar said. “You just have to add maybe a vegetable and rolls and you have a meal.”

Christopher Kimball, editor and publisher of Boston-based Cook’s Illustrated magazine, said the appeal of a homemade pot pie lies in its simplicity.

“The reason people like them is because most people in America still [cook] casseroles,” Kimball said by phone. “It’s the one-dish concept.”

The pies at Frank’s fall into the meat pie category – to qualify as a pot pie, the dish must have vegetables inside. That’s where some cooks run into problems. If you try to cook the meat, vegetables and sauce all together, things tend to get mushy and bland.

The key to keeping all the ingredients “bright and fresh-tasting” is to saute the vegetables beforehand, make sure there’s a thin layer of filling and cook the pie for a short time in a hot oven. If it takes too long to cook, “everything gets unattractive and melds together,” Kimball said.

Kimball should know. When he and the staff of Cook’s Illustrated compiled “How to Make Pot Pies and Casseroles,” they tested their recipes at least 10 times, sometimes 30 or 40, to get the best possible results. Taking the basic components: meat, vegetables, and a bechamel or veloute sauce to bind them all together, the cooks developed variations in the fillings and toppings.

He said pot pies aren’t the easiest dish to prepare, but if you do it right, it’s worth the effort. Especially if your idea of a pot pie is a frozen, hockey puck-like slab.

“Most people have never had a really good pot pie,” Kimball said.

Now, you can.

These recipes are excerpted from “How to Make Pot Pies and Casseroles,” from The Cook’s Illustrated Library. The small, fully illustrated book costs $12.95 and is available through the bookstore section of www.cooksillustrated.com or by calling (800) 611-0759.

Cook’s Illustrated Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6 to 8

Note: You can make the filling ahead of time, but remember to heat it on top of the stove before topping it. As for the topping, it can be made up to 2 hours in advance and refrigerated on a floured baking sheet. The pork pie can be baked in one large pan (a standard 13-by-9-inch pan is ideal, but feel free to use any baking dish with a similar surface area) or six individual ceramic baking dishes.

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs

2 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium-large onion, finely chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise 1/4 inch thick

2 small celery stalks, cut crosswise 1/4 inch thick

salt and ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3 tablespoons dry sherry

3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

1 recipe Rich, Flaky Pie Dough or 1 recipe Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits (recipes follow) or 1 sheet (about 9 ounces) frozen puff pastry

Adjust oven rack to low-center position; heat oven to 400 degrees F. Put chicken and stock in small Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium heat. Cover, bring to a simmer; simmer until chicken is just done, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer meat to large bowl, reserving broth in measuring cup for easy pouring later.

Increase heat to medium-high; heat oil in now-empty pan. Add onion, carrots and celery; saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. While vegetables are sauteing, shred meat into bite-size pieces. Transfer cooked vegetables to bowl with chicken.

Heat butter over medium heat in same pan. When foaming subsides, add flour; cook about 1 minute, stirring. Whisk in chicken broth, milk, any accumulated chicken juices, and thyme. Bring to a simmer, then continue to simmer until sauce fully thickens, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in sherry.

Pour sauce over chicken mixture. Stir to combine. Stir in peas and parsley. Adjust seasonings. (The filling can be covered and refrigerated overnight. Reheat before topping with pie dough, biscuits or puff pastry.) Pour mixture into 13-by-9-inch pan or six 12-ounce ovenproof dishes. Top with pie dough, biscuits or puff pastry. Bake until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 30 minutes for a large pie and 20 to 25 minutes for individual pies. Serve hot.

Variations

. Chicken Pot Pie with Spring Vegetables: Follow the master recipe, replacing celery with 18 thin asparagus stalks that have been trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces. Increase peas to 1 cup. This recipe works particularly well with Herb Biscuits (see variations in biscuit recipe).

. Chicken Pot Pie with Wild Mushrooms: Follow master recipe, soaking 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms in 2 cups warm tap water until softened, about 20 minutes. Lift mushrooms from liquid, strain liquid and reserve 1 cup. Use soaking liquid in place of 1 cup chicken stock. Proceed with recipe, cooking rehydrated porcini and 12 ounces sliced button mushrooms with vegetables. Finish as directed. This filling works well with Parmesan Biscuits (see variations in biscuit recipe).

. Chicken Pot Pie with Corn and Bacon: Follow master recipe, replacing oil with 1/4 pound bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Cook over medium heat until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Cook vegetables in bacon fat. Add drained bacon to bowl with chicken and cooked vegetables. Proceed with recipe, replacing peas with 2 cups fresh or frozen corn. This recipe works well with Cornmeal Biscuits (see variations in biscuit recipe).

. Turkey Pot Pie: Leftover turkey makes an excellent pot pie. If you want to use fresh turkey, replace chicken in master recipe with 11/2 pounds turkey breast tenderloins. In step 1, increase simmering time to 9-11 minutes. For leftover turkey, follow master recipe, replacing chicken with 3 cups cooked turkey meat, shredded into bite-size pieces. Eliminate step 1 and use 2 cups chicken stock in step 3.

Recipe courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

Cook’s Illustrated Rich, Flaky Pie Dough

Makes enough dough to cover 1 13-by-9-inch baking dish or six 12-ounce ovenproof baking dishes.

Note: Cook’s Illustrated finds a combination of butter and shortening delivers the best texture and flavor for pie pastry. Use a food processor to cut the fat into the flour. Once the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, turn it into a bowl and add just enough ice water to bring the dough together. If you like a bottom crust in your pot pie, you can duplicate that soft crust texture by tucking in any dough that hangs over the sides of the baking pan, rather than fluting it.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

4 tablespoons chilled all-vegetable shortening

3 to 4 tablespoons ice-cold water

Mix flour and salt in work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with flour. Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening; continue pulsing until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, keeping some butter bits size of small peas, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of ice-cold water over mixture. Using rubber spatula, fold water into flour mixture. Then press down on dough mixture with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more of cold water if dough will not come together. Shape dough into ball, then flatten into 4-inch disk. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes while preparing pie filling.

On floured surface, roll dough into 15-by-11 inch rectangle, about ? inch thick. If making individual pies, roll dough about ? inch thick and cut 6 dough rounds about 1 inch larger than pan circumference.

Lay dough over the warm pot pie filling, trimming dough to within 3/4 inch of pan lip. Tuck overhanging dough back under itself so folded edge is flush with lip of pan and flute edges all around. Or, simply tuck overhanging dough down into pan side. Cut at least four 1-inch vent holes in large pot pies or 1 1-inch vent hole in smaller pies. Proceed with pot pie recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

Cook’s Illustrated Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes enough to cover 1 13-by-9-inch baking dish or 6 12-ounce ovenproof baking dishes.

Note: When making biscuits, Cook’s Illustrated recommends using the food processor to cut the butter into the dry ingredients; then scrape this mixture into a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. If you like, substitute an 8-ounce container of low-fat or whole-milk plain yogurt for the buttermilk. If the dough does not quite come together, add 1 or 2 tablespoons regular milk. Do not overwork the biscuits.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour, not self-rising

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces

3/4 cup cold buttermilk, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons extra, if needed.

Pulse first six ingredients in work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

Transfer mixture into medium bowl; add 3/4 cup buttermilk; stir with fork until dough gathers into moist clumps. Add remaining 1 or 2 tablespoons buttermilk if dough is too dry. Transfer dough to floured work surface and form into rough ball, then roll dough to 1/2 inch thick. Using 2 1/2-to 3-inch pastry cutter, stamp out 8 rounds of dough. If making individual pies, cut dough slightly smaller than circumference of each dish.

Arrange dough rounds over warm filling and proceed with pot pie recipe.

Variations

. Parmesan Biscuits: Follow recipe for Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits, decreasing the butter to 5 tablespoons. After fat has been processed into flour and transferred into medium bowl, add 11/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese (4 ounces); toss lightly, then stir in liquid.

. Herb Biscuits: Follow recipe for Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits, adding 3 tablespoons minced parsley or 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves and 1 tablespoon fresh minced tarragon or dill leaves after fat has been processed into flour.

. Cornmeal Biscuits: Follow recipe for Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits, replacing cake flour with 1 cup yellow cornmeal.

Recipe courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.