How can I make a steak pie tastier?

[LovingCountryLife]

Hello.. made a steak pie last night as a tester for Christmas Eve dinner tonight. Added some Guiness. DH said it was quite nice but needed something extra to be amazing. What might that extra be?! Would red wine be better than Guiness? I added tomato purée to the steak as well as a beef stock cube crumbled straight in. I also added some onions. I’m a veggie so can’t taste the meat which doesn’t help 🤪 I made a beef stew a while back and that was bland too. Maybe I should stick to chicken 🤔

This doesn't help since you can't taste it but I make a chicken and veg soup yesterday and the thing that shifted it from bland to fabulous was more salt. Really simple, it brought the flavours alive that were already there.

I came to say salt too. Without salt all other flavours are dampened.

A splash of worcester sauce.

THREE stock cubes or two stock pots. a big glug of tomato ketchup,a big slug of Worcester sauce. Have a good christmas!!

Did you brown the onions? We usually use quite a bit of garlic in beef casseroles/pie too.

Worcestershire sauce.

And did you brown the meat well? You need that Maillard reaction for flavour!

Mushroom ketchup - a few shakes in the beef when cooking will work wonders.

Stilton

Agree with salt, also mushrooms, fresh plus some dried ones that have been soaked and the soaking water.

I came on to also say you have probably under salted it.

When I make a special beef casserole my recipe includes a bay leaf and a pinch of sugar. Possibly some mustard. But the hero ingredient is Guinness. Plus I like my salt!

Stock cubes, tomato puree, worcestershire sauce and allspice.

Mustard

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/gary-barlow-s-scrumptious-steak-stout-pie/

Large pinch of caraway seeds.

@dudsville

This doesn't help since you can't taste it but I make a chicken and veg soup yesterday and the thing that shifted it from bland to fabulous was more salt. Really simple, it brought the flavours alive that were already there.

Interesting as DH is not a lover of salt but said it needed more. He also said make sure you hit the ‘sweet spot’ though, not too much, not too little like it’s that easy

@nancywhisky

A splash of worcester sauce.

Great idea. And I actually have some !

@user1469770863

THREE stock cubes or two stock pots. a big glug of tomato ketchup,a big slug of Worcester sauce. Have a good christmas!!

I will do exactly this! Thank you. Merry Christmas 🎅🏼

@ErrolTheDragon

Did you brown the onions? We usually use quite a bit of garlic in beef casseroles/pie too.

Yes and I added some garlic too. Maybe I should add more

Fresh herbs and mushrooms lift everything. Thyme works well but any woody herb you have works at the beginning, if using parsley etc add just before putting the pastry on

@ErrolTheDragon

And did you brown the meat well? You need that Maillard reaction for flavour!

Yes I did. I think the meat was cooked well it was the other flavours that were a little underwhelming

And there is no such thing as too much garlic remember

@cliffdiver

Stilton

Stilton is a wonderful idea. I can imagine the pungency goes really well with the richness of the steak

I find caramelising the onions before adding anything hits that sweet spot. Especially with Guinness.