Help me improve on this pie

[Itsachickenwrap]

I made this today:www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-leek-mushroom-pie

The flavour was great but something about the look/texture could be improved (looks a bit like a dogs dinner!). I want to make it for guests so would like to figure out how to get it closer to the recipe pictures.

I have attached some pictures of what mine looked like. Instead of some bits of chicken and veg in a nice silky sauce, it was all a bit of a mush, slightly too thick sauce.

Should I reduce the amount of flour? Or did I overcook the flour (I got a bit distracted at the point before adding the liquid).

Or do I just have too much stuff in the sauce? I'm confused because I only used half the amount of chicken and leek advised.

Or is it because the milk boiled and it might have curdled?

Any advice from people who know what they're doing in the kitchen (unlike me) would be appreciated!

Taste is what really matters, & a pastry lid is a good disguise !

If you only used half the quantity of chicken & leeks, did you scale down the rest of the ingredients?
By boiling the milk/water rather than simmering, you reduced the quantity of liquid so the sauce would be thicker.

Hope this helps.

Taste and nutrition, are the main objectives for me, and also mmmmmmm,

I think I may have to make that pie

@Georgyporky

I halved the amount of chicken and veg, but kept the same amount of butter, flour and milk so if anything there should have been too much white sauce, so I don't get it!

I might reduce the amount of flour next time so it doesn't get so thick. But then should I reduce the butter too so they are equal amounts?

Once straight out of the oven it looked OK-ish but it had a slightly floury taste and then turned into a congealed texture when it cooled down. Not a good look.

To PPs who want to make it, you should! My British husband who's a big pie fan did give it the thumbs up but he is quite easily pleased.

Oh and the boiling happened before making the sauce, I still had the 650 mls of liquid required. But then maybe once the white sauce was made I didn't turn off the hob soon enough so it got a little thicker than it should.

You have to turn the heat right down when you add the flour, and keep stirring til it forms a sort of paste with the butter.

My top tip would be to use cornflour rather than plain flour, and use a bit less of it.

I'd swap the mushrooms for ham or bacon. Better texture and flavour with the combination of chicken and leek.

Make sure that your sauce is fully cooked out so it can't thicken further in the oven. You may need to loosen it a little before making the pie.
Don't be disheartened: that pie picture is clearly rigged: there's no way that the leeks would be so bright green if they'd been cooked to soft and then baked for 30 minutes. Also the mushrooms will make it slightly greyer than that picture. It will still be delicious!

@ODFOx ah yes you are right it did look off-puttingly grey, that would definitely be from the mushrooms. I could easily cook them separately so at least the brownish water that comes out of them wouldn't make it into the pie. Would that help?

@HollywoodTease yes thinking back, I think it was on quite a high heat when I went through those steps so I'll fix this next time.

@SharpLily hmm ham or bacon.. sounds delicious

I'm making it again on Saturday so I'll report back!

Why did you only use half the amount of chicken and veg? That clearly would make a huge difference in how it looks.

I make a similar one, and always think you need to make it saucier than you think as it dries up a bit while the pastry cooks. Add extra cream plenty of black pepper, and swap the mushrooms for bacon. Or maybe both?

@aquamarine because all the comments said that there was too much chicken, and as it was just a trial run for DH and I I didn't want to spend all that money on chicken and eat pie for a whole week:)

@gluenotsoup good point, I was finding it too thick before it even went in the oven, and i also left it in the oven a bit too long. How do I make it runnier next time, just add milk?

I reckon if you put the same lighting and filters on your photo, it would look more similar..

Practically, I would say you need larger chunks of green in there.

Extra stock and double cream

Hi, to those who add bacon to their pies - do you dice it and pre-cook it or just add it to the mix?

Dice and pre cook with the chicken, if that’s not already cooked, otherwise it’s a bit flaccid and pale.

I’ve only just read the recipe, I should have done before commenting.
The way I do it is a bit easier. Assuming you’re using raw chicken, chop it to bite size pieces with the bacon. Fry in a small amount of butter and oil til turning golden. Add a sprinkle of flour, cook, until juices absorbed. Add leeks, cut chunkier than in your photo. Add chicken stock, around 200 mls and around 100 mls double cream, a teaspoon of English mustard,plenty of black pepper and simmer for a few minutes. Transfer to an ovenproof dish, add puff pastry and bake. Adjust to add what else you like- bay, thyme , tarragon all work well.

Thanks @gluenotsoup that sounds a bit more like how I would go about making a veggie version (leeks, mushroom, potatoes and a very cheesy & mustardy sauce) but my family love chicken so it's good to know how I can rustle up a chicken & bacon version alongside. Poaching the chicken in milk and then pulling apart with forks sounded a bit of a palaver.

i agree 😂

Thanks for the help everyone. Just to update, I made it again with tweaks and it was amazing!

I still followed the recipe with the poaching of the chicken etc (definitely agree it's a faff though).

I used less flour (70 grams instead of 100) as advised and also quickly took it off the heat before it thickened too much (I took into account that it would thicken again in the oven)

I also cooked the mushrooms separately so there was no greyish brownish colour in the sauce.

It was silky and a lovely white. Family was super impressed and spontaneously asked for the recipe!