Unlike a sandwich, a pasty doesn’t have to be handled with care in case it gets squashed before you get back to the office, nor is there any chance of its tasty filling dropping out. Encased in a firmly sealed pastry ‘pocket’ it will stay intact until you are ready to eat it. Its shape has not changed in centuries.
Cornish Pasty - History
The Cornish pasty is a tradition in Cornwall and has been around a very long time. It evolved to meet the needs of the men who worked in the tin mines; Cornwall’s main industry for hundreds of years. Tin mining in Cornwall was falling into decline by the 18th-century and today it is non-existent. The Cornish Pasty, however, not only lives on but is found in other countries around the world, to which miners emigrated after the demise of the industry and the loss of their jobs.
Cornish Pasty - Traditional Ingredients
The traditional filling of meat, potatoes, onion and turnip provided a nutritious lunch for the hard-working miners in the damp and gloomy tunnels. So firmly was the filling encased in the pastry, the pasties were still warm when lunch time came around. It was also extremely practical as it was easy to carry in one hand.
Often the pasties would have their owner’s initials marked with strips of pastry at one end of the pasty as the miners traditionally would eat half for their breakfast and the other half for lunch - a good way for them to identify their pasty from the others. The had to make sure they started to eat at the opposite end of the pasty to where their initials were, otherwise they might just lose half of the pasty to another hungry miner.
Cornish Pasty - Traditional British Recipe
One thing that makes the Cornish pasty different to similar foods around the world is that the ingredients must not be cooked before they are placed in the pastry and sealed. They must be baked completely from raw. Don't worry that, because the meat is cooked from raw, it will not be fully cooked. Just make sure you dice the meat small - around the size recommended in the recipe below.
Recipe for Cornish Pasties
Makes 4 - 6 depending on size.
Shortcrust pastry
- 12 oz. (350g) flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 oz. (175g) vegetable shortening or margarine
- Water for mixing
Filling
- 12 oz.(225g) lean beef steak cut into 1 cm.cubes (just under 1/2 inch)
- 4 oz. (110g) chopped onion
- 3 oz (75g) turnip diced
- 8 oz. (225g) potato - diced
- Salt and pepper to season
- Small pinch of thyme
Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
Glaze
- Beaten egg
METHOD
Pastry
- Mix salt into flour
- Rub fat into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
- Add water slowly until you have a stiff dough.
- Divide into 4-6 pieces and roll each piece into a circle shape. Place an 6 (15cm) or 8 inch (20cm) plate on the pastry and cut around it with a knife.
- Divide the uncooked meat mixture into the number of pastry ‘circles’ you have, placing the filling in the middle of each pastry round.
- Brush the rim of the pastry with beaten egg and bring the two sides of the pastry together to meet over the top of the filling,.
- Pinch the edges together into a sort of scalloped crest . You will now have a half-moon shaped pasty.
- Make a small slit on each side of the pasty to let the steam escape and brush with the beaten egg.
- Bake at 220C (425F ) for 20 minutes until slightly browned, then lower heat to 170C (325F), for a further 40 minutes. Can be eaten hot or cold.
Cathy Smith - I have Miss McGinn to thank for my becoming a writer. I was in her class for only two years from age nine to eleven. In what we called ...
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