Cornish Pasties

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
The original Hot Pockets. My mom used to make these for my father who was stationed in England during WW2 and developed a fondness for them while there. It seems they were developed as a lunch for coal miners to take with them to work. I don't have her recipe, so I searched for one Online. apparently there is quite a variation in ingredients. The basic filling is diced potatoes and meat - some recipes call for rutabaga (I don't recall my mom including that, but she may have substituted carrots) and minced onions (white or green). This filling is encased in a shortcrust pastry like a turnover. Even different kinds of meats are listed as ingredients from chuck steak to flank steak and skirt steak. Has anyone here ever made them and what did you use for the filling?

cornish pasty.jpg
 

Yes the original recipe and the only ''real'' Cornish pasty is made using beef...and swede (rutabaga)...

Here's the original recipe...

ON THE INSIDE
Just good, wholesome ingredients, put together with love and care

  • Roughly diced or minced beef
  • Sliced or diced potato
  • Swede (turnip)
  • Onion
  • Seasoning to taste (mainly salt & pepper)
No meat other than beef, and no vegetables apart from those listed can be used in the filling. There must be at least 12.5% beef and 25% vegetables in the whole pasty. All the ingredients must be uncooked when the pasty is assembled and then slowly baked to develop all that famous Cornish pasty taste and succulence.

...and the website here...

http://www.cornishpastyassociation.co.uk/about-the-pasty/
 

I've never made them but I've been interested in the version with a savory filling on one end and a sweet filling, usually apple, on the other end. Some of these two-course pasties have a little heel on the sweet end so you know which end is which.

P1080298.JPG
P1080286.JPG
 
Pasties are a staple in the UP. My paternal grandmother (from Cornwall, where else?) used rutabaga in them. Radish Rose, nonono! Don't cook any of the filling before enclosing it in the pasty dough. Just. Not. Done. and they wouldn't taste like pasties. My maternal grandmother put diced carrots in hers along with the potatoes, onions, and rutabaga. The meat you use shouldn't be too lean or your pasties will be dry. Be sure to use plenty of salt and pepper. When you're dicing up the veggies and meat, you can tell by the smell when you've got the right combination. Don't ask! It's sort of like how my grandmother would tell me that I'd be able to feel when pie dough was right and ready to be rolled out. LOL

There used to be iron ore mines everywhere in the UP, and the miners carried lunch buckets...the old fashioned two-piece round ones. The bottom part was filled with hot tea or coffee, the section in the top held the pasty, and the tea kept the pasty warm. Anyway, at least four hours passed before it was time to eat, and by that time the tea wasn't hot any longer so the pasties weren't, either. Not that anybody cared whether the pasty was hot or cold because they're delicious either way.

There are purists who want their pasties with just meat, potatoes, onions, but who won't turn their noses up at the addition of rutabaga. And they eat pasties plain. There are those who want carrots and rutabagas in their pasties and must have gravy on them. Then there are the heretics who want pasties filled with whatever happens to be handy and cover them with ketchup.

And there are poor-man's pasties that are made with ground beef and veggies. Ground beef is a heckuva lot less expensive than chuck roast. We had ground beef pasties a lot when I was growing up. My sisters still make theirs with coarsely ground beef that's sold in the supermarket as "pasty meat."

They're a lot of work to make, so when I make them, I make at least a dozen at a time, bake half of them only half the time, cool and freeze. Only half-baked because potatoes turn to mush when they're fully cooked and frozen.

In my hometown, there are at least six pasty shops. One of them has been in business since the '30s (I worked there as a teen in the '50s). There are even drive-in pasty shops. And you can get ham and cheese pasties, breakfast pasties with scrambled eggs and sausage or bacon, vegetarian pasties, corned beef and cabbage pasties...think it and you can probably get it!
 
What a let down, all I saw in the thread title was the word pasties and thought to myself.....YES !!

Since this is about food I've got nothing to constructive to ad.
 
When I was really little my mom used to make these from scratch. Minced up the beef in that meat grinder with the handle that turned. I didn’t really fancy them but everyone else in the family did.
 
I could make gravy after the larger pieces of steak have been browned; mince the meat in a food processor by pulsing in small batches so it wouldn't get over-ground, hand chop the veg, and season.


It's dough I simply can't seem to work with! :(
 
Rose, I quit making my own crust years ago because it's just too much trouble. In my hometown in the UP, we could ask in the bakery section of the grocery stores for pasty dough. After moving here, I started using refrigerated pie crusts. One is too big so I halve them and roll them just a little thinner.

But...you'd brown the "larger pieces of steak" WHY? No! Use cubed beef or coarsely ground beef. Don't cook the vegetables. Roll out the dough into a circle. Spoon vegetables and meat on half the circle. Fold other half over and seal. Cut a vent in top. Four pasties should fit on a cookie sheet. Bake.
 
Thanks Georgia.

I always like to brown meat first and I get more of that browned surface by searing it that way. It's easier to turn. Little pieces or totally ground beef just "boil" in their juices- ok I suppose, but I get better gravy this way.

I didn't realize not to cook the veg first. Again, thanks. I may just try this with bought piecrust!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top