Australia

Menu: Meat pies and pavlova | Recipe Source: preppykitchen.com and recipetineats.com

Thoughts: The meat pies turned out to be one of those initially dubious, “trust-the-process” type recipes that make you feel embarrassed for ever doubting them in the first place. Three cups of red wine in a stew is a LOT of red wine, and when I tasted the mix after an hour of simmering and was still getting (tastefully) punched in the face by alcohol, I started feeling a little… “uh oh,” to say the least. I’m not sure what magic happened in the subsequent thirty minutes (this is actually a lie and I know exactly what the magic was: the panicked addition of 1/3 cup additional beef broth, 4 tbsp brown sugar, 1/3 cup additional Worcestershire sauce, and 2.5-3 tbsp bouillon paste), but when the timer went off and I tasted the mix again, it was perfect. The completed pies were buttery, flaky, and beefy, and I would love to make them again at some point, but use Guinness stew for the filling! The pie crust recipe was also one of my favorites I’ve ever used.

The flavor on the pavlova was absolutely incredible but the process was pretty difficult and making the sugar-and-egg-whites whip felt more like a mad science experiment than cooking (but then again, isn’t that all baking really is?). The recipe needed to be followed precisely, and it took me (an infamous kitchen improviser and corner-cutter) two tries: the first time I had one or two tiny drips of yolk sneak into the egg whites, and I also didn’t bother to let the eggs warm up to room temp before separating them. One or both of those errors resulted in a batter that was nowhere near stiff enough, but take two was much better! That said, even with a picture-perfect mixture and some much needed patience, the finished pavlova disc seemed more brittle than it should have been. Regardless, it was still great- chewy marshmallow meets vanilla icing- and the fresh fruit + homemade whipped cream tasted like summer.

Ready to cook?

Meat Pies (link): I followed this recipe pretty closely, aside from the additions I mentioned above!

Pavlova (link): I followed this recipe exactly! The accompanying YouTube video was super helpful as well.