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Cornish Pasty
Serves 4 Prep 1 hr 10 min Cook 55 min Total 2 hr 5 min Type Snack Origin British

Cornish Pasty

The Cornish tin miner's lunch: beef, potato, swede and onion sealed raw in shortcrust pastry and baked till the steam cooks it through.

Serves 4 Prep 40 minutes (plus 30 min pastry rest) Cook 55 minutes Units Rate

Overview

Shortcrust pastry uses a mix of lard and butter for the right sturdy-but-flaky texture; chilled, rested for 30 minutes, rolled to 4 mm thick, and cut into 22 cm discs (a small plate works as a guide). Filling: beef skirt (cut into 5 mm cubes, never minced), potato (5 mm dice), swede (5 mm dice) and onion (5 mm dice), seasoned generously with salt and pepper. The filling is piled on half of each pastry disc, leaving a 1 cm border. The pastry is folded over; edges are crimped firmly with thumb-and-forefinger pressed-and-twisted rope crimps along the curved edge. Egg-washed; baked at 200°C for 15 min, then 180°C for 35-40 min until deep golden.

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 500 g plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 125 g cold butter (cubed)
  • 125 g cold lard (or vegetable shortening, cubed)
  • 1 egg
  • 150 ml ice water (more if needed)

Filling

  • 400 g beef skirt steak (or chuck - cut into 5 mm dice, NEVER minced)
  • 400 g potato (peeled, cut into 5 mm dice - Maris Piper or other floury)
  • 250 g swede (peeled, cut into 5 mm dice - known as "turnip" in Cornwall)
  • 1 onion (large, cut into 5 mm dice)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt (be generous; the meat is raw and needs seasoning to flavour through)
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper (coarsely ground)
  • 30 g butter (cubed - 8 small cubes, one per pasty fold)

Glaze

  • 1 egg yolk (beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

Method

Stage 1 - Pastry

  1. In a wide bowl, whisk flour and salt.
  2. Rub in the cold butter and lard with fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some pea-sized lumps remaining.
  3. Whisk the egg into 100 ml of ice water.
  4. Pour into the flour; bring together with a fork. Add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time if needed.
  5. Knead briefly (5 squeezes) into a smooth ball - don't overwork.
  6. Divide into 4 equal portions; wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.

Stage 2 - Filling

  1. Cut beef into 5 mm dice (smaller is wrong; minced is wrong). Spread on a board.
  2. Cut potato, swede and onion to similar 5 mm dice.
  3. In a wide bowl, combine all 4 ingredients with salt and pepper.
  4. Mix thoroughly with your hands - the salt and pepper should coat everything.

Stage 3 - Roll and cut

  1. Heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
  2. Line a baking tray with paper.
  3. Working with one pastry portion at a time, roll on a lightly floured surface to a circle 22-23 cm across, 4 mm thick.
  4. Use a 22 cm plate as a guide; trim any uneven edges with a knife.

Stage 4 - Fill

  1. Lay the pastry disc flat.
  2. Pile about a quarter of the filling onto half the disc (leaving a 1 cm border).
  3. Drop a small cube of butter (~7 g) on top of the filling.
  4. Brush the entire pastry rim with water (helps the seal).

Stage 5 - Fold and crimp

  1. Lift the empty half of the pastry over the filling to meet the other edge.
  2. Press the edges together gently to seal.
  3. Crimp the curved edge: pinch a small portion between thumb and forefinger; press-and-twist; move along; repeat. The result is a rope-like crimp along the entire curve.
  4. The traditional Cornish crimp is along the SIDE (the long curve), not the top.
  5. Transfer to the baking tray.
  6. Repeat for all 4 pasties.

Stage 6 - Glaze

  1. Brush each pasty all over with egg yolk wash.
  2. Cut a small (1 cm) steam slit in the top of each.

Stage 7 - Bake

  1. Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes.
  2. Reduce heat to 180°C (160°C fan); bake another 35-40 minutes.
  3. The pasties should be deep golden brown all over; the internal temperature of the filling should reach 80°C (probe through the steam hole).

Stage 8 - Rest

  1. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes (the filling is volcanic straight from the oven).

Stage 9 - Serve

  1. Eat warm or cold.
  2. Traditional accompaniment: a mug of tea, or Cornish ale.

Notes

  • Beef skirt, chopped not minced: This is the protected/traditional rule. Beef skirt (also called flank or hanger) has the right texture and beef flavour. Chuck works as substitute. Minced beef gives a wrong texture entirely.
  • Crimp along the curve, not the top: Real Cornish pasties have the crimp along the curved long edge, with the flat side facing up. (Devon pasties have the crimp along the top; they're a separate cousin.) Either works; only one is true to Cornwall.
  • Don't pre-cook the filling: Cornish pasties cook from raw. The filling steams inside the pastry. Pre-cooking gives a different (and worse) texture - drier meat, mushier veg. The raw assembly is the technique.

Storage

  • Refrigerate 3 days; reheat at 180°C 12 minutes.
  • Freeze cooked 2 months; reheat from frozen at 180°C 25 minutes.
  • Freeze raw (assembled but unbaked) 2 months; bake from frozen at 180°C 65 minutes.

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