Sep

The Worst Dessert Ever: InterWined’s Own Cumberland Pie

Sean Sellers in Red Wines, Grenache, Carignan, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry 2004, Recipe, Sangre de Torro, Spain, Torres

InterWined Food
Every Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine that exceeds its normal £10 ($20) threshold with one great meal, prepared following the instructions of some the Internet’s best food blogs.

This week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ takes another slight departure from the norm and comes courtesy of its own recipe for Cumberland Pie.

As mentioned previously, traditional British foods have a universally poor reputation — especially when compared to the traditional foods of their European neighbours to the South, such as France and Italy. The only fly in the ointment, however, tends to be that so few of the people doing the comparisons have ever had many of the traditional British foods that they deride.

Perhaps it’s their names: To people born outside of the Commonwealth, names like Fish Pie, Cumberland Pie, Cottage Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Toad in the Hole, Bangers & Mash, Bubble & Squeak conjure up images of Monty Python sketches far more than they do desirable cuisine. And to be fair, who wouldn’t rather eat something exotic sounding like Coq au Vin over Steak & Kidney Pie, which to the American ear — at least — must sound like the worst dessert ever.

Yet, pies in particular are an essential and complicated part of British cooking and cuisine. There are pies that have crusts and pies that don’t. To complicate things further, there are vast differences of opinion on the most appropriate method of preparation. Does one steam a steak pie or cook it? If a Shepherd’s Pie is prepared with beef, doesn’t it become a Cottage pie? Should a Cottage or Cumberland Pie always have minced meat?

And while InterWined has its own opinions on each of the above, any debate would, in part, miss the point: Traditional British pies, like French cassoulet and Italian osso buco are comfort foods, hearty dishes made for eating on rainy days and after arduous work, that people love to eat because they taste good rather than simply sound tasty.

The Spanish 2004 Sangre de Torro from Miguel Torres might not ‘Blow the Bank’ with its £5.49 price tag (available at supermarkets everywhere) and slight air of ubiquity (again, available at supermarkets everywhere), but don’t hold those things against it.

Made of Garnacha and Cariñena, the Sangre de Torro or Bull’s Blood is commonly hailed as a great Catlan table wine; and, as with the Vinho Verde served in the previous ‘Blow the Bank’, that’s not intended as an insult. This is a wine for serving with roasts and casseroles and all matter of traditional comfort foods.

Its rich mix of blackberry, current, and pepper gives added flavour to the sweated onions and meaty vegetables such as the mushrooms featured in this week’s pie, during their preparation. And, once in the oven, it serves as an excellent blanket in which to wrap the meat under a heavy lid of mashed potatoes and grated cheese, ensuring that meat is tender, juicy, and slightly sweet. A comfort wine for comfort foods: 8.7.

So rather than argue the details of whether InterWined prepared a fully authentic Cumberland Pie, let’s simply agree it’s a comforting and hearty meal and one of the Worst Desserts Ever!

InterWined’s Own Dish in Full

Cumberland Pie

Ingredients:
4 good-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
200ml tub of crème fraiche (similar to soured cream)
Diced beef
1 red onion
7 cloves of garlic
1 pummet of mushrooms (chestnut or shitake)
⅓ bottle of red wine
Olive Oil
1 cup beef stock
Grated cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°c, and boil the potatoes until cooked and soft
2. While the potatoes boil, chop the garlic and onion
3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan (Start on a high heat and them take the temp to medium)
4. Add the garlic and onion and butter and sweat them. The onion should start to turn clear
5. Try not to let the garlic turn too brown and stick to the pan
6. Add the diced beef and cook until brown
7. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and beef stock
8. Allow the liquid to boil and begin to reduce, before adding the mushrooms, paprika, and ground pepper
9. Cover and cook until the liquid has reduced by half
10. Once reduced, remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer into an oven-proof casserole dish
11. Take the cooked potatoes and drain any remaining water from the pot
12. Add the crème fraiche and ground pepper and mash until smooth
13. Spoon the mashed potatoes to form a lid over the meat in the casserole; be sure to spoon around the outside of the casserole first to seal the dish and ensure that any of the liquid transferred from the saucepan with the meat does not escape
14. Cover with grated cheddar cheese and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes before serving

Download & Print Recipe

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Tasting Notes