Scrumptious homemade Cornish pasties


Here's a fun fact about Cornish pasties you may not know: According to Wikipedia, the hallmark side-crimping isn't for aesthetic purposes, but rather for hygiene. As Cornwall had a large mining industry, it's believed that miners might have eaten the pasty holding the thick edge of pastry, which was later discarded, thereby ensuring that dirty fingers (possibly including traces of arsenic) did not touch the food or mouth.
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An all-in-one meal that’s filling and delicious. Credits: Shutterstock

Ingredients:
Pastry:
2 cups (260 grams) of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup (60 grams) vegetable shortening
¼ cup (60 grams) butter
3 tablespoons cold water
1 egg, beaten

Filling:
200 grams ground beef
200 grams ground pork
1 medium potato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add cold water, tossing with a fork until a firm dough is formed.

3. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for about 8 minutes. Then divide into four and chill for 20 minutes.

4. Roll each piece of dough on a lightly floured surface to make a circle around 20cm across.

5. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, potato, onion, carrot, salt and pepper.

6. Place ¼ of the filling in the centre of each dough circle and brush the edges with beaten egg.

7. Bring up the edges of the dough circle, and crimp together to form a seal.

8. Place pasties on a greased baking sheet.

9. Combine egg and milk; brush over pasties.

10. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

P.S: Did you know that the term "Cornish pasty" was given protected status by the European Commission back in 2011? That means that legally speaking, only pasties made in Cornwall from a traditional recipe can now be called "Cornish pasties", much like sparkling wine can only be called ‘Champagne’ if it’s made in that particular region of France.

Let us know if you give this recipe a go. For those of you who prefer video recipes, take a look at this (slightly different) one below:
 
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I just love Pasties. There is nothing quite like an original Cornish Pastie, soooo yummy. Fun Fact: Back in the day an original Cornish Pastie was half savoury and half sweet fillings with a pastry divider. It was such that you held the pastie in your left hand and then ate dinner and desert in one.:)
 
Although this recipe sounds yummy my Cornish granma would have a fit. She taught me to make pasties when I was a little girl. True cornish pasties are made with suet pastry no short crust and rarely have any meat. Pasties were miners food and miners families were quite poor so a few scraps of meat in a pastie would be a real treat. All true cornish pasties contain parsnip and turnip and no onion. My granma always made pasties with a sweet end and a savoury end. As my grandfather worked as a miner in Gympie after coming from Cornwall granma made pasties every day wrapped them in a cloth rubbed with wax to make it water and it was carried by the miners in a narrow deep pocket in the side of the dungarees.
And it's true that the pastry edge is used as a handle and thrown away.
 
This recipe is not correct. Cornish pasties do not contain pork or carrots. If there is meat it is only a tiny amount of beef, usually skirt. The vegetables make up the bulk with potatoes, onion and swede or turnip. The meat is not minced or "ground", it is very finely diced or sliced.
 
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