Meat Pies: An Emerging American Craft

Ever since they collaborated on their first book, Charcuterie, more than 20 years ago, James Beard Award–winning author Ruhlman and chef and restaurateur Polcyn have been obsessed with meat. Now the duo are setting their culinary sights on the savory side of pies with spectacular success. After an entertaining introduction from Ruhlman, in which he traces the history of meat pies, the book covers the basic tools, vessels, and ingredients needed and then focus on everything cooks need to know about doughs. The next part of the cookbook is divided into sections defined by crust, such as pot pies, hand-raised pies, and vol-au-vents, with recipes for classics such as a chicken pot pie with biscuit crust (of which Swanson could only dream) to a tomato, basil, and mozzarella pie to traditional Cornish-style pasties and their Michigan Upper Peninsula counterpart as well as Stilton cheesecake with walnut crust. Recipes for sides including potato and garlic puree as well as sauces and condiments round things out and the recipes themselves are laid out in a precise, easy-to-grasp format enhanced with stunning photographs.