Dakota Buffalo & Beer Pie
Submitted by yvonnemcdonald
Slow-simmered buffalo meat with beer, root vegetables, and sage tucked under a golden, flaky pastry crust. A rugged pot pie straight from the Northern Plains.
YIELD
1 piePREP
20 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsIf you’ve never cooked with buffalo, this pie is a fine place to start. The meat is leaner than beef but rich in flavor, and a long simmer with beer and beef stock turns it fork-tender.
Sage and thyme keep things earthy while tomato puree adds just enough tang to balance the malty beer broth.
Once everything cools in a deep dish, you blanket it with pastry and bake until the top goes golden and crackling. Pure comfort food with a frontier twist.
Kitchen Tips
- Use a dark lager or amber ale for deeper flavor in the broth. Skip IPAs, the bitterness can overwhelm.
- Brown the meat in batches so it sears instead of steams. Crowding the pan gives you gray, sad cubes.
- Let the filling cool completely before adding pastry, or the crust goes soggy before it even hits the oven.
Variations
- Swap buffalo for elk or venison if that’s what your freezer holds.
- Add a handful of frozen peas stirred in right before you top with pastry.
- Use puff pastry for an extra-flaky, buttery lid.
Ingredients
Directions
Season the meat cubes with salt, pepper, and sage, and dredge in ¼ cup of the flour.
Heat oil in a large skillet and brown the meat on all sides.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat to a heavy Dutch oven.
In the remaining oil in the skillet, sauté onion, carrot, celery, and potatoe until lightly browned.
Using a slotted spoon, add vegetables to meat in Dutch oven.
Sprinkle remaining flour over drippings in skillet and cook stirring, until lightly browned.
Stir in the broth, tomato purée, beer, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, clove, and thyme.
Pour over meat and vegetables. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1½ hours.
Pour into a deep 9 inch pie dish and let cool.
When meat is cool, roll out pastry and cover dish.
Cut steam vents in crust and bake in preheated 425 degrees F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until pastry is browned.
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