Binging with Babish: How to Make Meat Pie from Sweeney Todd

If you’ve seen Sweeney Todd then you might have wondered what’s being used in these pies, and the good news is that it’s still highly illegal to use human flesh to cook with, as far as anyone knows. Jokes, folks, jokes. But the look and simplicity of this pie is actually something that you might not expect from this channel since usually the recipes are a bit more involved and require a lot more steps to complete. This was fairly simple, at least those that know how to cook and are confident in the kitchen. Some people like meat pies, others aren’t so fond of them, but the creation of them appears to be fairly easy, with the only difficult portion being the crust rendering fat and then folding it into the dough feels like it’s a step that a lot of people could mess up somehow. But apart from that, there isn’t a lot of prep work for this dish when compared to so many others, making it one of the easiest recipes on Babish’s list at this point. 

That’s kind of funny really considering that the story of Sweeney Todd isn’t too complicated, but it has more hidden parts than this recipe, take that any way you’d like. The tale is one that is kind of sad and depressing really since Todd was framed for a crime he didn’t commit. What’s ironic is that he would eventually become a criminal worse than anything that he’d been accused of since the judge in charge of his case decided that he wanted Todd’s, formerly Benjamin Barker, wife to himself. Coming back after well over a decade and taking the name of Sweeney Todd, the wrongly accused individual would then go on to begin a murder spree that would end in tragedy when he ended up killing the wife he’d thought was dead and was killed in turn for his misdeeds 

The story is one that’s incredibly sad but also quite demented since revenge often makes people do horrible things to each other, not the least of which is bringing harm to others simply because it’s what is desired at the time. Revenge doesn’t bring anything or anyone back after all, and it’s a destructive act that only takes one down a darker road, as many might agree. But in a cinematic setting, it’s definitely something that one can admit is a very convincing way to get a point across. On top of that, the discussion of Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies is the kind of ghastly treat that people might have heard of as an urban legend long ago when food was scarce and there was nothing else left to fill the pies with. Of course, one would eventually notice that there were fewer mouths to feed as the larder starts filling up. Plus, the mention of a horrid smell coming from the ovens does feel as though it would warrant a thorough check of things. Just imagine how people would be horrified to learn of such a thing, and how quick a community would be to cover it up as much as possible. This story was definitely twisted in a very dark and diabolical manner, but many people actually felt sorry for Sweeney Todd since he’d lost everything and it had likely driven him mad.

Rest assured there’s no demand for any unnatural sort of meat in this recipe, but to those that don’t happen to like meat in pies, it’s likely a small comfort. There are those that feel that meat inside a pie isn’t the best thing in the world but to each their own. Meat in pies has been a common thing for quite a while, and for thousands of years according to historians, this has been something that people have thoroughly enjoyed. For some folks, the only things that appear to belong in pies are fruit and sweet substances, but it’s fair to state that the meat pie has been a favorite among many for so long that memory might not really serve as an accurate measuring stick. But there is one thing about pies that’s also true, that it’s tough to know what’s in it until one is told since even the appearance of a pie can be highly deceiving. 

That’s not exactly a comforting thought with one of the bigger American holidays coming up, is it? Well, rest assured that any meat pie made today is bound to contain ingredients that are legal to sell to people since anything else would be downright creepy, not to mention absolutely disgusting. One has to wonder if anyone involved in the story had the thought of what might happen if a person carrying a disease were killed, and how that might affect the pie and those who ate it. Oh yes, cheery thoughts.