Aussie Meat Pies

Australian meat pie (Harry’s Cafe de Wheels). Eva Rinaldi / flickr / 2012 / CC BY-SA 2.0

Aussie Meat Pies (or Australian Meat Pies) are a style of meat pie typically made in Australia.

They are usually individual-portion size, with not a lot of runny sauce inside them, so that they can be eaten out of hand as a take-away fast food. Along with Chiko Rolls, they are a staple food at football games and other sporting matches in Australia.

Aussie meat pies are usually purchased commercially, rather than made at home. They will be about the size of a hand, and usually round in shape, though the National Pies Company in Tasmania makes some which are rectangular.

Most commercially-made Aussie meat pies will have minced meat in them, though there has been some debate over the fat content in them, and how much of the filling really is meat.

The crust is generally shortcrust pastry, though some kinds will use shortcrust for the bottom and sides, and a puff pastry crust for the top. A few varieties will use puff pastry for all the crust.

In reaction, there is a slowly emerging gourmet range of Aussie meat pies, in which the meat is in clear, identifiable chunks. Gourmet ranges offer everything from goulash-flavoured to seafood to vegetarian.

In Victoria State, Four’N’Twenty is a large manufacturer of Aussie meat pies; South Australia has Balfours; Western Australia has Mrs Mac’s.

Four’N Twenty brand meat pie, AFL football in the background. Marc Ellis / flickr / 2005 / CC BY 2.0

In North America, Aussie meat pies can occsionally be bought here and there, frozen.

The Australian dish called “floaters” consists of an Aussie meat pie in a bowl of pea soup.

By law, meat pies in Australia are only required to have a minimum of 25% meat in them. ^[1]’The government standard for meat pies is 25 per cent ”fat-free flesh”. Fat-free flesh is described by Food Standards Australia New Zealand guidelines as being the skeletal muscle of a slaughtered animal, and can include animal rind, fat and connective nerves, blood, blood vessels and, in the case of poultry, skin. University of Sydney dietitian Alice Gibson said meat pies had little nutritional value when compared with lean meat. “The product contains about 25 per cent meat and all the rest is water, refined carbohydrates, fat and salt,” she said. ”The most common ingredient in meat pies is water. The rest of the ingredients will be pastry, gravy and vegetable protein.” ‘ Whyte, Sarah. Tests reveal supermarket pies not even one-third meat. Sydney, Australia: Good Food. 13 January 2014. Retrieved January 2014 from http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/food-news/tests-reveal-supermarket-pies-not-even-onethird-meat-20140113-30p8j.html

Aussie meat pie, with ketchup package. https://freeaussiestock.com / CC BY 3.0

Literature & Lore

The Great Aussie Meat Pie Contest started in 1990 in Sydney. The goal of the contest is to improve the quality of the commercially-made pies. Some Australians had taken to calling meat pies “rat coffins”, alluding to uncertainty about the meat inside.

Sources

Cambourne, Keeli. One way to earn a crust. Sydney, Australia: Sydney Morning Herald. 26 May 2008. Page 14.

Kaplan, Morris. Ex-rowing champion is no humble pie maker. Sydney, Australia: The Australian. 11 July 2009.

Readers Digest Australia. Australian Meat Pie Recipe: The perfect Australian meat pie recipe. 7 January 2008. Retrieved March 2010 from: http://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-and-recipes/australian-meat-pie-recipe/article51915.html

Ross, John. Great Aussie Meat Pie Competition Celebrates 20 years. Leading Edge Bakery and Food Service Journal. Patterson Lakes, Victoria, Australia: Rhodes Publishing & Events. Issue 71. June / July 2009.

Viellaris, Renee. Law to save Australian meat pies drafted by politicians. Brisbane, Queensland: The Courier-Mail. 31 October 2009.

Australian meat pie with ketchup. Durant Weston / flickr / 2005 / CC BY 2.0