Cornish Pasty Baking

So...I made Cornish Pasties! Actually, I've done it more than once already. They are not hard to make but I have learned a lot already and am making adjustments until I get them as good as I can. The first attempt went well and they looked good. There were some changes to be made though. First, I rolled the pastry too thin as I tried to get six pasties from the dough. Second, I added too much salt. Thirdly, my oven was too hot and I would have preferred them not to be so dark. The crimping went very well and I think they turned out quite pretty. The edge looked like a rope and they didn't fall apart.

The longest part of the process was cutting the potatoes, onions, and rutabaga. They should be sliced, not diced (apparently) so that took longer. On the second round I used my food processor and that worked very well. It cut down on prep time tremendously. I had a hard time working with the skirt steak. I am not a big meat-eater to begin with and this particular cut is very unappealing to me (not to get too graphic but is is very bloody and stringy and comes in a long band. Yuck. I almost couldn't stomach it when the butcher pulled it from the packaging to cut it for me. Sorry!).

Still, hubby loved the pasties, including the meat. I decided to make the next batch vegetarian. I enjoyed those much better but didn't add enough salt! They were also still too thin, too dark, and over-stuffed. Also, a lovely gentleman on YouTube has been giving me advice (he uploaded the crimping video below) and he suggested adding cheese to a vegetarian version. I will try that next time to add more flavour, moistness, and salt.

The only problem with all this experimentation is eating too much pastry and too many calories! I used hard margarine and lard in the pastry (as according to the recipe) and that is not a healthy combination. I will have to take a break for a bit (I've made my scones with Devon cream as well!) before trying the next batch. Cornish Pasties are really delicious and I can't wait to have them again! If I had to offer further advice I would say to prepare all the ingredients in advance and assemble the pasties assembly-line style. Roll out and cut all the pastry first so once you get your hands and counter messy handling the meat, veg, and egg wash, you don't have to try to sprinkle flour and roll out the next one.

Comments

[Luke Smith]

Amazing stuff, well done. The recipes are endless, but I'm a traditionalist. I should've said about the pastry thickness, but great turn out! Controversially there's no evidence the Cornish pasty has origins in plymouth devon. I've got an original recipe from the 1800s kicking around somewhere. I'll try and dig it out. Love the YouTube crimping guy :)

[angie]

Yeah, he's great! :) Thanks for all the encouragement!