Lancashire Butter Pie - A Traditional Recipe With Potato And Onion Filling (2024)

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Lancashire butter pie is a new discovery I've made. Like any British person, I do enjoy making good old pie, especially mini British beef and mushroom pies.

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The general problem when it comes to preparing delicious British pies is making the pastry. Making the pastry is an art and requires a lot of patience and practise.

So much so, I recently came away defeated and can honestly say that making my own pastry is my Achilles' heel in the kitchen. Luckily, I did find my way with completing this Lancashire butter pie with some store-bought pastry. Phew!

In the end, I managed to create an excellent version of the Lancashire butter pie. Being another one of my delicious hearty meals for this cold weather, it is an excellent dinner if you’ve got a hungry family.

It’s easy, cheap, and filling. Plus, it stores so well, it can keep for days in the fridge, if it lasts that long. Best served with a side salad or some roasted vegetables.

By the way, if you love potatoes, you simply must try boulangere potatoes.

lancashire butter pie with original cottages

While I was making the Lancashire butter pie I thought about where I’d spend my holidays this year. Do any of you have any special plans for Christmas or New Year’s Eve?

I recently stumbled upon Original Cottages and I seem to have found some inspiration, wink wink. Suddenly, I imagined making pies in a wonderful cottage by a fireplace, with a window overlooking the country side.

Hidden from all the city stress and filled with special family moments, passing your holidays can’t be more relaxing.

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Wouldn’t it be great to take the edge off in a cosy cottage? You too can find the perfect retreat. The best part is, that you can find a cottage that suits you perfectly in many parts of the UK.

You can discover the beautiful coastline with Coastal Holiday Cottages. Or, you can bring your entire family with you, even your pooch.

Original Cottages offers lots of dog-friendly cottages, which is great because your pet can enjoy the countryside as well. Lastly, just because you stay in a cottage doesn’t mean you should be in total solitude.

You can find a lot of cottages near pubs for a great local experience. Or you can plan a romantic escape, or a memory-filled family adventure in UK’s various beautiful regions.

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about original cottages

The Original Cottage Company Ltd (TOCC) is family-owned company that started initially as Norfolk Country Cottages in 1992. They offer various types of cottages in most regions in the UK, so you can select your favourite part of the country.

Just check out all their UK Original Cottage destinations here. Surprise surprise, I have my eyes set on the destinations in Lancashire.

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For my non-English readers, this region of the ‘red roses’ is located in north-western England. Have you ever heard of the Roses Tournament?

It’s an old university competition between York (white roses) and Lancashire (red roses). This university competition is rumoured to be older than competitions between Harvard and Yale. Fancy that!

In any case, Lancashire is an absolutely gorgeous region and definitely a great place for a holiday stay with UK’S Original Cottages. For now I'll imagine being there while eating Lancashire butter pie.

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the pastry

Now, I’ve got a secret to confess. At first, I was extremely excited to make my own pastry from scratch for this Lancashire butter pie. However, Murphy’sLlaw came into play and, of course, I stuffed it up.

Making my own pastry didn’t work, so I rushed into the store to buy short crust and puff pastry. Oops! I admit, I am not the best baker in England and my pastry skills need fine tuning.

If you do have the confidence to make your own pastry, then you should blind bake the short crust first. This is done so that the crust comes together and is less likely to be flabby at the end of the cooking process.

Again, if you don’t feel like faffing with making short crust pie lining from scratch, just go for a store bought one. Next, I recommend putting the cooled down filling in next and then covering it with puff pastry.

Feel free to decorate the top of the puff pastry to your heart’s desire. As you can see, I’ve made small leaves. Don’t forget to brush the top layer of the puff pastry with egg wash for that beautiful golden colour on the Lancashire butter pie!

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filling

This traditional pie calls for potato and onion filling. It's vegetarian friendly and omnivores can have some meat on the side. The pie can easily be spruced up though.

Personally, I would add bits of bacon or smoked ham for that nice umami flavour. Also, the f you’ve got a meat lover at home, they will enjoy a bit of meat inside.

The best part about any pie is that you can tweak the filling in any way you wish. Sometimes, I like to make a ‘quiche lorraine’ type of filling with eggs, cream, tomato and bacon.

Simple and delicious. Plus, it’s a tad lighter than the potato and onion filling. Another great idea that I’ve seen from readers’ comments in the Yorkshire Pudding Wraprecipe post is including beef stew.

Why not save some leftovers and put them into a pie? Clever and sustainable at the same time.

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Sides

While your Lancashire butter pie is in the oven, you can use this time to prepare a light side dish. I recommend making something green like a side salad.

A simple green salad with some tomatoes, peppers and olive oil will. Although, I urge you to add a vinaigrette as the acidity won’t make the pie as heavy.

However, if you have more space in your oven, why not roast a couple of vegetables and serve them on the side? I’d go for roasted beetroots or even coleslaw.

If you are looking for more traditional British pies, then try this sweet one. Try my lemon chess pie recipe.

More potato recipes

  • boulangere potatoes
  • rosemary potatoes
  • parmentier potatoes

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📖 Recipe

Lancashire Butter Pie - A Traditional Recipe With Potato And Onion Filling (8)

Lancashire Butter Pie

★★★★★4.9 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Michelle Minnaar
  • Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

UnitsScale

  • 320g (11oz) shortcrust pastry sheet, ready rolled
  • 320g (11oz) puff pastry sheet, ready rolled
  • 5 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 large onions, peeled and sliced
  • 100g (3oz) butter
  • 1 egg, whisked

Instructions

  1. Remove the pastries from the fridge and let them rest at room temperature.
  2. Parboil the potatoes in salted water for 5 minutes and drain.
  3. Gently fry the onions in the butter until softened then add the potato and stir.
  4. While the potato mixture is cooling down, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
  5. Lightly oil a 30cm (12in) pie dish.
  6. Line the pie dish with the shortcrust pastry and trim the edges. Line with baking parchment then pour in baking beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool down a bit. Remove baking beans.
  7. Adjust the oven temperature to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.
  8. Fill the pie shell with the potato filling and evenly distribute the contents.
  9. Top off with the puff pastry and crimp the edges. Poke the top with a fork or knife so that air can escape during the baking process. Decorate to your heart’s content.
  10. Brush egg on top then bake for 15 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden.
  11. Remove from the oven and serve with salad.
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: English

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 serving
  • Calories: 554
  • Sugar: 6.2 g
  • Sodium: 166 mg
  • Fat: 22.7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 6 g
  • Carbohydrates: 78.4 g
  • Fiber: 9.3 g
  • Protein: 10.7 g
  • Cholesterol: 28 mg

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P.S. This post has been created in partnership with Original Cottages.

Lancashire Butter Pie - A Traditional Recipe With Potato And Onion Filling (2024)

FAQs

Why is it called a butter pie? ›

With a history as rich as its' filling, (like us!), butter pie is synonymous with Lancashire. Also known as Friday Pie, it was originally created by Catholics in Preston who did not eat meat on Fridays and chose to substitute their beef with butter.

What were pies filled with in medieval England? ›

In medieval England, they were called pyes, and instead of being predominantly sweet, they were most often filled with meat — beef, lamb, wild duck, magpie pigeon — spiced with pepper, currants or dates.

What does butter do to pies? ›

I use BOTH shortening and butter in this pie crust because they work together to make the BEST crust. Buttery, flaky, and tender: the pie-fect trifecta. What does butter do? Butter adds flavor and flakiness.

What was one historical use for pies besides eating? ›

For centuries, pie was largely a way of preserving food, a sort of medieval equivalent of canning, except that the contents were nearly always meat. Often the crust itself was not even meant to be eaten, particularly in the case of game pies.

Why is it no longer called crack pie? ›

The famous Milk Bar "Crack Pie" shall henceforth be known as "Milk Bar Pie," after the name of the pie was slammed in a column published by the "Boston Globe." In a letter published on the Milk Bar website Monday, pastry chef Christina Tosi announced that her company had changed the name of the pie.

What is a pie in a sandwich called? ›

Wigan, England

Enter the pie barm, a meat pie sandwiched between a buttered roll. The roll in question is known as a “barm cake,” which means it was leavened with barm (the foam at the top of any fermented beverage, usually beer).

Is butter pie crust better than crisco? ›

This time, though, there was one very clear victor. Butter made a tastier, flakier, sturdier crust by far. This isn't to say that shortening and lard aren't useful ingredients. Shortening is a great way to get incredibly tender desserts.

Is it better to use Crisco or butter in cookies? ›

Cookies Made with Butter vs Shortening

The butter cookie provides better flavor and a crispier exterior with browning around edges and a chewy interior; the shortening cookie spreads less, holding its shape better while baking.

What is the oldest pie in the world? ›

Historians trace the origin of pie to the Egyptians back in 9500 BCE. In Egypt, the first pies were made with ground grains like barley, wheat, or oats combined with water. This “dough” was shaped into an oval and filled with savory ingredients like nuts, honey, and meat.

What is the most popular pie in America? ›

Apple. There are five states they prefer apple pie to other flavors. Apples came to the United States with Europeans. Apple pie has English origins, according to Smithsonian magazine, but the dessert is an American classic.

What pie was invented in America? ›

Though a recipe for apple-custard pie appeared in Robert May's The Accomplisht Cook in mid-17th-century England, the earliest written American Marlborough pie recipe comes from Amelia Simmons' 1796 American Cookery, believed to be the first cookbook authored by an American and printed in the US.

How did butter get its name? ›

Etymology. The word butter derives (via Germanic languages) from the Latin butyrum, which is the latinisation of the Greek βούτυρον (bouturon). This may be a compound of βοῦς (bous), "ox, cow" + τυρός (turos), "cheese", that is "cow-cheese".

Why is cheesecake not called cheese pie? ›

Cheesecake is called "cheesecake" because does not typically contain yeast, and has a crust. Whether it's baked or not, cheesecake is really a form of pie with a crust on the bottom. Most baked cheesecakes use custard as the filling made up of eggs, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla or other flavors.

Why is it called flapper pie? ›

There are a few origin stories behind the name, which more than likely earned the name Flapper Pie because its rise in popularity occurred in the 1920s when Flapper Girls and their short dresses and haircuts were all the rage — at this point in Canadian history, Flapper Pie was served in every cafe across the prairie ...

Why is it called fidget pie? ›

Fidget pie is named perhaps for its ingredients' tendency to shuffle around in their pastry case when baked. Other theories about the name are that it was once 'fitched' (or five-sided), or – less appetisingly – that it smells like polecat (known locally as a 'fitch' or 'fitchett') while cooking.

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