REC--Cornish Pasties for jkath

[PA Baker]

Here is my Grandma J's pastie recipe. It was passed on to her from somewhere (we know it's been around forever as she's been using it since she was a girl and she's 95!) and her additions/changes are in parenthesis.

Oh, and about the whole jam thing. The pastie with one end sweet and one end savory is called a Bedfordshire Clanger. It's considered a two course meal in one crust! The sweet end has strawberry jam spread on the inside of the dough and is marked with the person's intials so they know which end to save for dessert later.

Remember, these aren't health food!

Pasties
Grandma Johnson’s additions are in parenthesis

Filling
1 lb cubed beef (approx.)
1 lb cubed pork (approx)
1 carrot diced (optional)
3 medium onion, diced (4)
4 medium potatoes, diced (6)
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
6 Tbsp cold water (optional)
2 Tbsp melted butter (pat margarine)

Crust
3 c flour (4 c)
1 c shortening (1 ¼ c lard)
1 tsp salt
½ c cold water (add slowly—may not need full ½ c)

Mix filling well in large bowl. Divide into 6 equal parts. Mix crust like piecrust dough. Divide into 6 equal parts. Roll out to size of a 9” dinner plate. Put filling on ½ and pull other half over filling. Seal. Make 3 slashes in the top. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat to 375F for 45 minutes.

According to Grandma J, make sure shortening/lard are at room temperature. She puts a pat of butter on top of the filling.



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[Lifter]

OMG!

Aren't these "Pastries"?

 

[Ishbel]

I holiday in Cornwall almost every year (sometimes twice or three times a year when I lived in London!) and we have lots of friends in the Duchy.

Pasty shops are on every corner in places like Falmouth, St Ives, Padstow etc...

'Pah-stees' now come in no end of exotic flavours - curried chicken, ham n cheese, even vegetarian!

This recipe is very near to the way a friend of mine makes hers (she's from Mevagissey) - but frankly, every Cornishwoman will tell you that HERS is the only 'real' Cornish recipe... a bit like us Scots and our shortbread recipes!

http://www.cornishlight.co.uk/cornish-pasty.htm

 

[PA Baker]

Ishbel, that same argument occurs with my family and their friends in the UP of Michigan, too! Churches often have pastie sales as fundraisers, and there's nothing funnier than to have a group of elderly women working (and arguing!) together to make a large batch of pasties--it's a good thing they're in a church or it could get pretty nasty!

 

[Ishbel]

Are there lots of Cornishmen in the ancestry of the area? Church congregants coming to blows over a pasty - makes me smile!

BTW - there is a friendly rivalry between Cornwall and Devon as to who invented the pasty - both say THEY did - but Devonians call it an Oggie!

 

[jkath]

Your Grandma J's recipe sounds so good! Talk about comfort food!

These sound a lot like the Cuban Empanadas that we eat on occasion at my husband's cousin's house. His wife's Cuban family buys them at their favorite bakery & brings them over by the boxful. But those don't have much in the way of veggies, except perhaps a potato or two.
I think I may need to try these on a cold day....if we ever get another one! (high 70s today)

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Ishbel, that same argument occurs with my family and their friends in the UP of Michigan, too! Churches often have pastie sales as fundraisers, and there's nothing funnier than to have a group of elderly women working (and arguing!) together to make a large batch of pasties--it's a good thing they're in a church or it could get pretty nasty!

Where in the U.P. are your relatives, and are you in the U.P. as well? I live in S.S.M. As for the pasties, my late.great mother, and her brother used to own a bakery in town called "The Family Bakery" One fo the featured items was pasties. The following recipe is my own, but is based on thiers. It has all of the same ingredients, but I didn't have their recipe, and so made mine. It can be increased in size, and can have the various ingredient amounts changed to fit individual tastes. But it's pretty good on its own.

It's true that you can fill these things with virtually anything. In fact, we have a pizza place in my home town that made their name making pizza pasties. However, in the U.P, the traditional pastie is made like this:

Pasties
Ingredients:


1 lb. very coarsly ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced potato
1/2 cup diced rutabega
1/2 cup sliced carrot (optional)
2 stalks celery, sliced
three cloves garlic, minced
1/2 stick (about 3 tbs.) butter
1/2 recipe single pie crust per person

Brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic in a lightly oiled heavy pan. While the beef is cooking, place the veggies into a pot of boiling water and cook for no more than ten minutes.

Drain the ground beef; drain the veggies, combine together with the butter. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Let cool a little. Roll the pie crust halves into nin-inch circles. Spoon filling onto one side and fold the other over the top. Roll the outer edges inward to form a kind of handle. Poke a few vent holes in the top and bake for about 30 minutes in a 375' overn until the crust is browned to your liking.

Serve with beef gravy (thickened with a roux), or catsup, or both, and with a glass of very cold milk, or better yet, a tofu/banana/straberry smoothie.

Yum

This is comfort food at its best and is not for someone who has to watch their carbs or calories, which is why I make them about once a year.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Michael in FtW]

Thanks for the recipe Goodweed! You just may have answered a longtime questtion for me with your recipe. My youngest son and I had pasties for the first and only time at a "Highland Fling" several (15-16) years ago and there was a flavor I could not identify - but we both loved them. Maybe it was rutabega ... don't know, can't remember ever eating one of the things. Will give it a try - would sure love to experience that taste again.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Thanks for the recipe Goodweed! You just may have answered a longtime questtion for me with your recipe. My youngest son and I had pasties for the first and only time at a "Highland Fling" several (15-16) years ago and there was a flavor I could not identify - but we both loved them. Maybe it was rutabega ... don't know, can't remember ever eating one of the things. Will give it a try - would sure love to experience that taste again.

Michael; Next time you make a potato soup, or chowder, add about a half cup of diced rutabega to the soup. The flavor will suprise you. It adds a subtle sweetness, reminiscent of clams. I was amazed. My sister did it as an experiment, as she had fewer spuds than she thought and had to substitue something. It was a very good flavor combination.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North