East End Pie Mash and Parsley Sauce

[@raptorone7327]

Brought up on this but from south London. You may not have liked it much Keef but for me if I had a last meal on earth it would be double pie, mash and liquor. Now living up in the midlands so not had it for a few years and miss it greatly!☹️

[@Gothiczartan]

I've seen the pie and mash scene in a 1979 movie Quadrophenia my favorite part of the movie.

[@wendellfugate4225]

What lovely stuff. Was watching old 1970's footage of the good old fashioned pubs in London which are now sadly shut down and realizing that I really wish that I had made it to the UK to study law, watch test cricket in various places and surf your pretty cobblestone lined point breaks. Having a great meal after a surf session is obligatory and this beef mince and suet duff crust, mash and either parsley sauce or demi glace brown gravy would be relished. Cheers!

[@lagambaguinando6500]

Great video Keef hopefully we see Mrs Keef Cooks tasting soon !

[@_ArsNova]

Thanks for the guide sir. In the winter I love to make classic British dishes. Cannot resist the temptation to make shepherds pie or pie & mash on a cold day!

[@skuirel555]

Thank you for this nice video Mr Keef and greetings from Belgium :)

[@NewingtonBoy]

I dunno if you are aware we do eat pie & mash in South London! Arments, Manze's 😀

[@Keefcooks]

Sure, but it does seem to be more of an East End thing...

[@NewingtonBoy]

@@Keefcooks Not really! East & South London always contest which is the oldest pie & mash shop in London! People from outside London seem to think it's a cockney meal! Another factor is which area you live in, I lived around the Elephant & Castle, so I used Arments, Bermondsey bods used Manze's. I got this from Google: "The Tower Bridge Manze's is now London's oldest surviving pie and mash shop. Sold by Robert Cooke to his son-in-law (and protege) Italian-born Michele Manze in 1902, Michele quickly became South London's answer to the Cooke dynasty" I know Cookes shut down a while back. Thanks for the reply!

[@ravingiron9356]

Can't beat Arments!!

[@jonlen100]

@@Keefcooksit’s a south London thing.

[@karendaley3184]

I always enjoy this kind of video where you do a recipe from a particular place. I can't see myself making this one, but it was fun to watch. And if I'm ever in That London again, I will endeavour to find a pie mash shop and try one.

[@fenixvolt2777]

I'm from the east end, try Maureen's in Chrisp Street market, Poplar.

[@mikedeman5351]

When I worked in Bermondsey in the 70's there was a Pie, Eel & Mash shop in Bermondsey Street. They served eels, as well as pie & mash and of course the famous 'liquor'. They had a very old interior, if memory serves, the tables and benches were marble. The liquor was a vivid shade of green, it didn't look at all like yours.

[@Keefcooks]

I suspect they used food colouring in the liquor then, or a phenomenal amount of parsley!

[@philiphaigh8349]

Thank you that's looks delicious 😋

[@kimbradley1292]

Thanks Keef. Each to their own.

[@harrybond007]

Looks good, no eels were harmed in the making of this video!

[@dwaynewladyka577]

That is a very rustic looking pie and mash. It still looks good. Cheers, Keef! ✌️

[@SlotSavvyPK]

Stopping by to bring that lu my support to you. Nice to see you again.blessings 🔥👍👍🍀🍀👍👍🕺🕺

[@Beruthiel45]

And here's me thinking black puddin' was bloody awful. It's actually reassuring to know that everywhere has a signature dish that everybody from somewhere else thinks is inedible and strange to boot. Scotch pies wha hae. Or mince rounds which have the decency to include onion. Bravo Keef. Yer a better man than I am Gunga Din. 😊

[@sanseijedi]

Here's to you, you erudite soul! You cannae go by me, old son (or lass--apologies-- as the case may be) because I love me some black pud, and a well-made haggis into the bargain, but no worries. My grandparents came from Japan & the bloody awful food I'm aware of is a slimy slug's fest known as natto! Revolted shiver... Ye may break faith us who us who die in disgust. Cheers!

[@kennethschaumkel5639]

You make me laugh. I’m going to try it thanks. Keep the comedy up 😊

[@IanSlothieRolfe]

The eels from the pie & mash is one of my favorite parts of the east end experience, being an Essex boy. I can see how it might not appeal to your sensitive northern tastes though :D

[@Keefcooks]

I think there's something about cold stuff in jelly that puts people off. Same with proper pork pies.

[@edgarburlyman738]

I want one with eels since I'm all about authenticity! London does not seem like my kind of place though. One day I will tour Britain and see where is my favorite.

[@jordancollins9373]

Always serve the pie upside down …. Looks delicious

[@Keefcooks]

I've never understood the upside-down pie thing

[@CorpoateCasual4323]

Found my new favorite cooking channel.

[@Keefcooks]

Welcome aboard!

[@CorpoateCasual4323]

@@Keefcooks thanks! I'm hoping to visit the UK at some point and love to get an idea of what kind of food to expect

[@jasoncrook1]

Brilliant video Keef , everyday’s a school day, I didn’t know they used two different types of pastry, and I don’t think you’d have any problems putting the meat in raw it’s only like scotch pies and I think your oven maybe on its last legs a fan assisted oven should come out evenly cooked also adding some fish sauce to the liqueur maybe a good idea ? Only a suggestion , hope Mrs Keef cooks is ok we haven’t seen her for a wile , you’ll have to do some jellied eels next to go with it lol 😂 keep up the good work bud 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

[@Keefcooks]

Thanks Jason. I did actually try an experiment yesterday with the raw meat method. It did work but the meat was clumpy. Fish sauce -> good idea. I actually just crumbled a beef stock cube over the mince. But I'll stick with pre-cooking in future.

[@jonlen100]

The first pie & mash shop was in Southwark south London.

[@chrissierichards6802]

My friend here in spain makes lovely pie mash xx

[@jstrie275]

I use to get butter on sale for 2 pounds of butter for $5.00 now it's 6.49 per pound!

[@Keefcooks]

Yikes!

[@DerrickWhittle-mm7jz]

Don't need to glaze since Londoners almost allways flip the pie in the liquor the moment it is delivered.

[@Keefcooks]

Maybe that's because unglazed pastry doesn't look good!

[@Nicnic725]

From the daughter of a proper Eastender, you got this spot on Keef ❤️

[@Keefcooks]

Thanks Nicnic

[@janjordal9451]

East end pies are more of a cultural experience than a culinary one.

[@Keefcooks]

Yeah, good point!

[@highlandclouds4158]

Hey there Keef! From what I understand this is one of the most accurate recipes I've found on the pie and mash. As much as I love authenticity and appreciate the art of documenting a real east-end classic, can I ask what changes you would personally make to elevate this dish? You mentioned making a roux instead of the slurry for the liquor, for example. If you were asked to make a pie and mash the way you'd enjoy it, what changes might you make? I am very curious!

[@Keefcooks]

Yes, start with a roux for the gravy. Add finely chopped onion, brown the meat well and cook it for probably half an hour. Leave it to cool before putting it in the pie. Make the pie crust with hot water pastry (using lard) top and bottom. Glaze it with eggwash and don't scorch it in the oven.

[@highlandclouds4158]

@@Keefcooks Thank you so much for your reply. All the best, Keef!

[@jamesgoacher1606]

I preefer my gravy to be runny. Same with custard. I had a Cockney wanabe friend/colleague some years ago who extolled the virtue of 'the liquour' but I was never convinced he had actually eaten it cos he was from somewhere between Milton Keynes and Luton. I'm all for simple pies mind you.

[@ralphthebulldog5163]

NBC is always good if you are gluten free, looks delicious! i was always put off parsley sauce as it use to have eel juice in it

[@Keefcooks]

NBC?

[@ralphthebulldog5163]

@@Keefcooks non brewed condiment

[@Keefcooks]

@@ralphthebulldog5163 Ah, thanks!

[@dirtyunclehubert]

that looks totally like (factory) worker food. charles dickens would rejoice over this. which is no remark over your always impeccable cooking skills, uncle keef. please sir - i want some more!

[@ChelseaPensioner-DJW]

The East End of London was the Docklands, so you can imagine all the workers, stevedores and the like would need filling food as it would be burned off in no time.

[@mr.piechipsandbakedbeans7967]

Aye up, Keef. Just watched yer vid, and I've got to say, it’s a right odd thing. Pies with eels back in the day? Can’t say I'd fancy that. But minced beef, now that’s more like it. Simple pie and mash, none of that fancy stuff we get up north. And the parsley sauce, ‘liquor’ they call it? Fishy sauce on me pie, sounds a bit daft, but I suppose it’s tradition. Bet it’s nowt compared to our proper Yorkshire pies and gravy, though. Still, cheap and tasty, they say. Might be worth a try if I’m ever down south, but I’ll stick to our own grub, ta very much.

[@bigdaddigaming]

Keef all I'm saying as a north Lincolnshire lad you can keep your liquor I'll take the pie and mash though, and that looks bloody good

[@davecoleman7431]

Really good attempt mr cooks but cardinal sin ….. pie must be upside down Love your channel

[@Keefcooks]

Thanks Dave. The ones I had at G Kelly, Roman Road, Bow were not upside down. What's a boy to do? I do agree they'd look better upside down though!

[@stephenhope7319]

Good job Keef. Might be good experience to try all the flavours of England! Cook a dish from each county?.

[@Keefcooks]

I pretty much have done that. But you'd be hard-pressed to pin down exactly where a recipe comes from and you'll always get people arguing about it.

[@icemanknobby]

I have a secret ingredient that makes the parsley sauce a lot more authentic about a tsp of fish sauce to taste but it does make the sauce taste more like the east end version. Do give it a try and let me know:-)

[@Keefcooks]

I quite often use fish sauce for an umami boost in sauces etc, but would never do so publicly in anything to do with East End scran - imagine the horrification!

[@DerrickWhittle-mm7jz]

Why the difference in top bottom. Live in Cincinnati asked my local Krogers if they had suite (sp) for mince pies they said yes its in the pet section, for birds.

[@Keefcooks]

I'm guessing using puff/flaky pastry for the bottoms is a waste because it won't rise and flake. Suet for birds - yeah, you can get suet balls. But they're nothing like the kind of suet you need for pastry.

[@JammyGit]

Wow!! Richard Branson is making cooking videos on KZbin 😆👍✌️

[@Keefcooks]

Oh no he isn't, it's this fella: #2575 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJXNiKCDocZ6ebs

[@edgarburlyman738]

What happened to all the eels Keef? Overfishing or was it because they quit throwing all that "eel food" in the river?

[@Keefcooks]

I suspect it was the introduction of diesel engines on boats on the river, but the poo reduction probably contributed too!

[@edgarburlyman738]

@@Keefcooks Maybe they had it right back then and not drinking from or swimming in the river, not using a motor on your boat is worth it for an abundance of tasty eels.

[@tonimarx6405]

Not glazing the pies is sacrilege!

[@Keefcooks]

Tell that to the Cockneys

[@ricatkins4918]

Fabulous Authentic food. Questions? Just wanted to know how you first got into/ decided to be a YOU-TUBER. 🙌🏻

[@Keefcooks]

Good question! And I really don't know, although it might have been something to do with me reading that people were making a ton of money doing it. Well maybe they were/are. But I'm not!

[@jimblewitt6314]

Spoon and fork, never a knife.

[@Keefcooks]

Except at the pie mash shop in Bow where I finally got to try the real thing.

[@brendarigdonsbrensden.8350]

I get the feeling hard working women thought up how to use up pastry and fish stock to dress up potatoes and a fish pie. Can’t say I’d enjoy it but my London friends say it good 🤷‍♀️

[@edgarburlyman738]

The men were just eating the beigest meal ever without a care :DD

[@garyz2043]

That liqueur didn't look geen enough,lots more fresh parsley needed,also use the potato water to make it up with a little bay and chilli vinegar added. More secrets which you have to work out yourself : }

[@Mike_5]

Nice one Keef me old China a meal to have up the apples and pears with the trouble and strife

[@Keefcooks]

LOL. Notice how I avoided the cockney rhyming slang stereotype malarkey.

[@grahamturner5963]

Tried the eel pie once - must be 40 years back. It was interesting, but I'm a thick gravy/sauce kinda guy and the licquor put me off

[@alex-E7WHU]

Ive never ever heard of any pie and mash shop using raw mince in the pies. Never.⚒️

[@Keefcooks]

.

[@PortmanRd]

How can you label your version as East End, and just how many Pie & Mash Shops did you visit to base your taste assumptions?? There are over 70 in the city of London alone.

[@Keefcooks]

Oh dear. Are you upset because I called it 'East End' rather than 'East, Southish, bit of Kentish, slightly Essexy'? Or because it was made in Yorkshire? I have visited 2 London pie shops - do I have to try them all to become entitled to an opinion? Thought not. BTW, I don't think there are any pie mash shops in the actual City of London.

[@rayharrison3265]

Didn't look too shabby, one big mistake though Keef...........Fork and Spoon no knife.

[@rickbear7249]

I once tried the genuine East End of London Eel and Mash with Liquor. As with most of these peasant dishes, I was expecting a taste revelation. After all, the peasants of every country know a thing or two about creating something wonderful from the poorest of ingredients. It was truly horrendous! 🤮

[@peterwhittington4311]

What’s East End Pie and Mash? The oldest pie and mash shop is in South London where it was invented and originally sold on London Bridge - mouthy cockneys (normally Essex mockneys) try and claim everything London was invented by them - Was it f

[@Keefcooks]

Here we go...

[@DarrenFinn-z8l]

Parsley sauce is for fish not pie's they haven't got a clue down south

[@brookeconroy6227]

It's called liquor, not parsley sauce. It used to be eel pies but the price of eels went up over 100 years ago so it got replaced with beef which is much tastier and goes with the liquor. The pies aren't the same pies from a chip shop or football match, its pastry is a very different texture. Also they're not East London pies, they're just as much South London where the dish tastes even better usually. People don't understand it outside London or know how to eat it the right way unless they're told how, but these places have been open for well over 100 years and are packed on weekends even today... so it does in fact work.

[@jacquelinemoore7839]

You came to London and you didn't tell me.

[@Keefcooks]

That particular trip was a couple of years ago, but I usually get down there once or twice a year to visit our son.

[@donner101]

You need to spray water over the tops of the pies before they go in the oven so they dont go dry like yours.

[@Keefcooks]

Y'know, I'd prefer a proper egg-wash...

[@donner101]

@@Keefcooks Yes so would I. But the London pie and mash method is lots of water on and in the pies, no milk or butter in the mash scraping and a face like a slapped arse at the counter. Even as southerner I am always amazed by the, shall we say unique, experience of eating at one of those places like they are doing you a favour by letting you in.

[@Keefcooks]

Excellent critique!

[@normacoope8239]

I'd eat that pie, unfortunately dont like mash

[@jamesparlane9289]

Not pre cooked meat? Sounds like something Sweeny Todd would do.

[@edgarburlyman738]

I'll do it with raw meat, I'm young and brave.

[@LearningCurveScience]

Looks very interesting. I still think we make better pies up North.

[@Keefcooks]

By a long way!

[@sootsoots11]

Turn your pie over mate. It's the wrong way up for p&m.

[@Keefcooks]

§

[@leonardlyons8447]

The filling is always pretty cooked us eastenders are not savages I wish you "experts" did your homework !

[@Keefcooks]

Pretty cooked?

[@Keefcooks]

Oh, 'pre-cooked'. Well that's not a mark of savagery Leonard - plenty of pie and steamed puddin recipes start off with raw meat. I'm not an expert and never ever claim to be, but from what I've seen, read, and been told on my previous attempt at this, some shops do start off with basically uncooked meat. I don't make this stuff up and I certainly don't mean to cause offence.

[@elvenkind6072]

I don't understand the English habit with baking everything into a pie. If bread is what you want next to the mash and stew, why not just make it simple, and add a slice of bread. I mean: Could it be THAT MUCH of a difference?

[@Keefcooks]

It's a massive difference - I don't think you understand the difference between bread and pastry. Bread is a dough of flour and water leavened by yeast. Pastry is a dough of flour, fat and water - not leavened, no yeast. Completely different things. You need to try a pie then maybe you'll get it.

[@elvenkind6072]

@@Keefcooks Thanks for explaining, from now on I can stand on one foot, closed eyes, and tell the difference between bread and pastry. 🙂 But seriously, we don't do pie here in Norway, so my silly comment was mixed with genuine curiosity. I don't think I've ever tasted any kind of pie, the way the British and Americans and many others do it. I am a hopeless Anglophile though, loving all things English, history, the language, literature, the Royal Family, music "...Jerusalem. In England's green & pleasant Land" and ... mostly anything, only we sadly don't have any tradition of British food over here. At the fish market there is this one place that smells delicious in half the city, serving Fish & Chips, but I haven't walked through there yet any day, combined with me being hungry and them serving it, at that one place. Hoping to visit England, specially the rural parts and historical locations. It's not very pricey, so I think it might be something I'll manage to complete on my bucket list. Thanks for your video and for answering my comment. Almost weekend, so I wish a nice one for your and yours, from me and my cat, across the sea.

[@janjordal9451]

I'm not sure I like that 😂

[@smallsmalls3889]

You can't do it mate. Give in

[@Keefcooks]

You may be right. I can do proper pies though! Mate.

[@tyrion3575]

Um, sorry Keef... i have loved your vids.. but this fis lippen awful.. i'm a London fella .. this ain't no east end pie mash.. more like a dogs dinner..

[@Keefcooks]

Not very helpful Tyrion - what do you think is wrong with it?

[@lionheart6960]

That is by far the worst take on a pie and mash I have ever seen... from a real east ender

[@Keefcooks]

Ah Mr Lion, perhaps you can point this poor ignorant cook at a recipe or video of a better example? Mostly I looked at F Cooke's videos (short on detail), and on what I actually had at G Kelly, Roman Road, Bow.

[@Keefcooks]

Thank you!

[@rickbear7249]

In that case, Keef's version has to be an improvement.

[@harrybond007]

Ouch!, do you really watch east enders on TV?

[@edgarburlyman738]

Good to hear the Netherlands is still swarming with eels. That's where the other half of my father's family is from AND they taught the British to sail!

[@ravingiron9356]

Your pie top don't look too bad, that's where i struggle.......has to be burnt but still soft. With the pie shops shutting, you would think someone like Cooks would post the RECIPE!!! A simple recipe but it baffles just about everyone that tries to replicate.

[@Keefcooks]

Joe Cooke is probably the most visible trad pie-maker - he's in 2-3 videos on KZbin and you can pick up some idea of what they're doing - as for publishing an actual recipe I expect they regard that as a family secret. I think reproducing pie n mash is tricky because it's actually so simple and doesn't use basic techniques/ingredients that most people are used to, like no butter in the mash, no onion and no pre-cooking of the meat. And deliberately scorching the crust!

[@ravingiron9356]

@@Keefcooks That would be a shame as the family secret will die with them. The big secret is the pastry, i've watched all the vids on you tube including Arments...they don't use butter, margerine in the pastry. Plainer than plain food lol....but it's so tasty! no gravy on the pies 'darn sarf'.

[@queerstars1]

Yummy