Meat Pies: An Emerging American Craft

Review Quotes:
An absolute masterclass from two behemoths of the industry whom I've always looked up to. Bulletproof, tasty recipes alongside technique and skills. . . . The pie revolution is here, jump aboard--Chef Calum Franklin, author of The Pie Room

Review Quotes:
There are no better authors to pen the comprehensive guide to a once forgotten category of cuisine than Michael Ruhlman and Chef Polcyn.--Grant Achatz, chef/owner of Alinea Group

Review Quotes:
I have always been a proponent of opening up the dinner routine--why not have soup for supper, or breakfast for dinner, and what's wrong with a substantial salad? Happily, Meat Pies provides us with a new, even more exciting option: Pie for dinner--and not the sweet kind. If you have mastered meatloaf (and love it; who doesn't?) then you can certainly gussy up your meatloaf with pastry to make a meat pie. That's just one of 90 game-changing recipes that transform any entrée, including fish and vegetables, into tasty pies. And Polcyn and Ruhlman are the ultimate teachers, guaranteeing total success. Your family will thank you.--Sara Moulton, host of the PBS show Sara's Weeknight Meals

Review Quotes:
[A] comprehensive yet accessible treatise on all sorts of savory pies....Home cooks seeking new but achievable challenges will have fun reproducing Polcyn and Ruhlman's creations.-- "Booklist (starred review)"

Brief Description:
"Chef Brian Polycn and Michael Ruhlman, authors of the landmark cookbook Charcuterie, reunite to teach home cooks and professional chefs the craft of savory pies with 90 new recipes and step-by-step how-to photographs. Learn the secrets of a good dough, explore classic meat preparations, and discover how fish and vegetable pie traditions can be adapted for today's tastes"--

Publisher Marketing:

When it comes to American cooking, no chef-writer duo is more revered than Chef Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman. In their new cookbook, Meat Pies, they cover the fundamentals of meat, seafood, and vegetable concoctions topped with, enclosed in, or wrapped in dough. After teaching readers the basics of what they need to get started, including necessary equipment and the all-important moisture barrier (to avoid soggy crusts), Polcyn and Ruhlman divide their pies into neat categories:

+ Pot Pies

+ Hand-Raised Pies, designed to be eaten at room temperature

+ Rolled Raised Pies, in which the dough is wrapped around a filling and simply baked

+ Tarts and Galettes

+ Double-Crusted Pies

+ Turnovers

+ Vol-au-Vents, or mini tarts with filling added after baking

This structure allows the home cook to master the dough and form required for the recipes as written--and also encourages invention, creativity, and discovery. Most pies will pair well with a sauce; others will work with the recipes for all-purpose sides and condiments. Featured recipes range from a deeply comforting Beef Short Rib and Vegetable Pot Pie to an elegant Mediterranean Vegetable Pie wrapped in crispy dough to a Cumberland-Style Sausage Roll with origins that date back five hundred years. Modern preparations play with flavor without piling on the fat, as in The Best Mushroom Tart; a Fish Pot Pie topped with a potato crust; and the dramatic Chicken Sheet Pan Pie with bacon, roasted garlic, and fresh herbs.

Informed by Polcyn's decades of award-winning cooking and teaching, and brought to life by Ruhlman's engaging prose, Meat Pies presents an innovative and exciting guide to an ancient craft.

Review Citations:

• Booklist 10/01/2024 pg. 16 (EAN 9780393541717, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
• Library Journal 12/01/2024 pg. 104 (EAN 9780393541717, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Contributor Bio:Polcyn, Brian
Brian Polcyn has owned and operated many of Detroit's finest restaurants, namely Forest Grill and Five Lakes Grill. From 1997 to 2024, he served on the full-time faculty of the Culinary Arts program at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, where he taught butchery and charcuterie. He is the co-author of a series of cookbooks on the art of charcuterie, including Charcuterie; Salumi; and Pâté, Confit, Rillette.

Contributor Bio:Ruhlman, Michael
Michael Ruhlman is one of the most highly regarded food writers today, having written and coauthored many bestsellers, including The Soul of a Chef, The French Laundry Cookbook, Ratio, The Book of Cocktail Ratios, and a series of cookbooks on the art of charcuterie, including Charcuterie; Salumi; and Pâté, Confit, Rillette. He lives in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Ann Hood.