Cornish Pasties ala Steve

[Steve Kroll]

I converted this from a British recipe, so it's pretty authentic

Cornish Pasties

For the dough:

• 4 cups bread flour
• 10 tbsp butter, or a mixture of half lard and half butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup very cold water
• 1 egg yolk
• Pasty filling (recipe below)

Cut butter/lard into small pieces and freeze for 30-60 minutes.

Add flour and salt to food processor and pulse several times to mix. Add 1/2 of the butter pieces and pulse a dozen times. Add remaining butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Turn on food processor and slowly add the cold water through the food chute. Allow to run until mixture forms a cohesive ball and pulls away from the sides (about a minute).

Remove dough and knead it a few times on a greased surface, until it's pliable and smooth. Form a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Leave dough to rest for 3 hours in the refrigerator. This is a very important step as it is almost impossible to roll and shape the pastry when fresh.

After the dough has rested, divide it into 4 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Working quickly, while the dough is cold, flatten each ball and use a rolling pin to roll into a 10" circle. I use a plate to cut the dough into a perfect circle shape. Spoon your favorite filling into the middle of the circle and put a pat of butter on top. Fold the dough over so the edges meet. Crimp the edges (traditional method).

Beat egg yolk along with a tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the mixture over the tops of the pasties.

Bake in a 400° oven for 50 minutes.

Traditional Pasty Filling:

• 1 lb skirt or flank steak trimmed of excess fat, minced or chopped in a food processor
• 1 lb potatoes, finely chopped or sliced
• 1/2 lb rutabaga (aka swede), finely chopped or sliced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (okay, this isn't traditional, but I like garlic)
• Salt to taste, maybe 2 tsp
• Pepper to taste, maybe 1 tsp

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside until ready to use.

[PrincessFiona60]

You need to post your beautiful pastie pictures here, too!

Thanks for this, I want to make pasties now!

[niquejim]

I looked up pasties...whille I might ennjoy these I'm, not sure this is what you meant

[TATTRAT]

Originally Posted by niquejim

I looked up pasties...whille I might ennjoy these I'm, not sure this is what you meant

lol, not of the nipple variety. I just can't understand how women stay warm with those anyways.

Steve, this thread is useless without pics!

[spork]

Steve, I hope you don't mind my taking liberty with your super pic...

I copied your recipe as well.

But swedes are alien to me. I have to search DC and bone up on them, or look for substitute. I can only hope my first attempt looks as good...

[Steve Kroll]

Originally Posted by spork

But swedes are alien to me. I have to search DC and bone up on them, or look for substitute. I can only hope my first attempt looks as good...

Swedes are also known as rutabagas. They're usually found next to turnips, beets, and yams at the grocer. A suitable substitute would be turnips. If you can't find those, just add more potatoes.

Rutabaga:


PS - thanks for posting the pic. I should also add, this recipe makes 4 regular-sized pasties, and if you use the leftover scraps of dough to make another one, you'll get 5, although the last one will be a little smaller.

[sparrowgrass]

Do you know the pasty story? Miners took them for lunch--they are sturdy enough to handle a trip down the mine and last til lunch, and the heavy crust on the outer edge acts as a handle, to keep dirty hands off the 'eating' part of lunch.

After lunch is over, that dirty bit of crust was tossed over the miner's shoulder for the tommyknockers (totally unrelated to Stephen King's story). Tommyknockers are little guys, kinda like leprechauns, who live underground. If you go into a mine, you can hear them tapping with their little hammers, and they get hungry from all the hard work they do. If they don't get their pasty crusts, they get testy, and miners will find their tools misplaced, or they will bump their heads or shins on a rock that was not there yesterday.

I used to lead mine tours in the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in northern Minnesota, and I always told this story by candlelight to my groups. When I got to the part about mischief done by tommyknockers, I blew my candle out, letting the group 'enjoy' the total darkness half a mile underground.