Cornish Pasties

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Rolling pin
• •Baking sheet lined with parchment

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry

   Put the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the cold butter and lard in cubes. Rub the fat into the flour with your fingertips, working quickly, until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs with a few larger flakes still visible. Those flakes are fine. They'll make the pastry short and flaky. Add the cold water gradually, mixing with a knife, then bring it together with your hands. The dough should hold when pressed but not feel sticky. If it's dry and cracking, add a splash more water. Wrap it in cling film and rest it in the fridge for at least thirty minutes. The pastry needs the cold. Don't skip this.

   Lard is not optional here. It gives Cornish pastry its strength and short crumb. All butter makes a tender pastry that falls apart in the hand, which defeats the purpose of a pasty entirely.
2. 2

   Prepare the filling

   While the pastry rests, dice the potato and swede into pieces roughly the size of your smallest fingernail. Not too uniform, but not too big either. You want them to cook through in the oven without turning to mush. Cut the beef skirt into small pieces, about the same size. The meat should be in distinct pieces, never minced. Finely chop the onion. Toss everything together in a bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. More pepper than you think. The filling wants to be well seasoned before it goes into the pastry, because you can't adjust it afterwards.

   Beef skirt is the traditional cut, and it's the right one. It has enough fat running through it to keep the filling moist during the long bake. Chuck steak will work if you can't find skirt, but trim carefully and don't choose anything too lean.
3. 3

   Shape the pasties

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Divide the pastry into four equal pieces and roll each one out on a lightly floured surface into a circle roughly the size of a dinner plate. Don't worry about perfection. A wonky circle is still a circle. Pile a quarter of the filling onto one half of each round, leaving a decent border at the edge. Place a small knob of butter on top of the filling. It will melt into the meat and vegetables as they cook, making its own gravy inside the pastry.

4. 4

   Crimp and seal

   Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Fold the unfilled half over the filling to make a half-moon shape. Press the edges together firmly, then crimp along the curved seam by folding the pastry over itself in small, tight pleats, pinching as you go. The crimp runs along the side, not across the top. This isn't decorative. The crimp locks the pasty shut so nothing leaks, and it gave the miners a handle to hold while eating with dirty hands. They'd throw the crust away. You don't have to.

   If crimping feels awkward the first time, just press the edges firmly with a fork. It seals the pasty perfectly well. The crimp improves with practice and nobody is judging.
5. 5

   Glaze and bake

   Place the pasties on a lined baking sheet. Brush all over with beaten egg. Cut a small slit in the top of each one to let the steam escape. Bake for ten minutes at 200C, then turn the oven down to 170C/150C fan and bake for another thirty-five to forty minutes. The pastry should be a deep, burnished gold, properly coloured, not pale and blonde. When you lift a pasty, it should feel solid and heavy in your hand. The filling inside will be bubbling and the kitchen will smell of pepper and butter and baked pastry, which is the smell of a good decision.

6. 6

   Rest before eating

   Let the pasties rest for ten minutes before eating. They hold their heat like a stone pulled from a fire. The filling inside is scalding when they come out of the oven, and the resting lets everything settle. A pasty eaten too soon burns the roof of your mouth and falls apart. A pasty that has rested for ten minutes is a different thing entirely: the pastry firms, the filling thickens, and the whole thing becomes something you can pick up and eat with your hands, standing in the garden if you like, or sitting at the table if that's more your evening.

Chef Tips

• •The filling goes in raw. Everything cooks together inside the pastry, which is why the pieces need to be small and even. If the potato is diced too large, you'll bite into a hard, undercooked lump at the centre, and that ruins the whole experience.
• •Season the filling boldly. The pastry absorbs and mutes seasoning, so what tastes properly seasoned in the bowl will taste a touch flat inside the pasty. Be generous with the black pepper especially. A Cornish pasty without enough pepper is just a hand pie.
• •These travel beautifully. Wrap them in a clean tea towel and they'll hold their warmth for a good hour or more. Cold the next day with a smear of mustard and a flask of tea, they become something worth planning a walk around.
• •Don't be tempted to add carrots, peas, or anything else. A proper Cornish pasty is beef, potato, swede, onion. That's it. The discipline of keeping it simple is what makes it work. Everything in there has a job.

Advance Preparation

• •The pastry can be made a day ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. Bring it to cool room temperature for ten minutes before rolling, or it will crack.
• •Assembled, unbaked pasties freeze well for up to two months. Freeze them on a tray first, then wrap individually. Bake from frozen, adding ten to fifteen minutes to the cooking time and keeping an eye on the colour.
• •Baked pasties keep for two days in the fridge. Reheat in a hot oven for ten minutes to crisp the pastry back up. The microwave will make the pastry soft and sad. Don't do it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 410g)