The Great Cornish Pasty

Saturday 3 September 2011



We had such a fabulous sunny day here today! Perfect eating outdoors day. The Missionaries came over and helped Todd to trim the hedge and I thought I would bake them something filling for their lunch. Pasty's are perfect picnic food . . . filling, delicious and great for eating out of hand.



The pasty has been a staple food down South in Cornwall for a very long time. It's been known as many things through the years . .. . tiddy oggy was one name used and hoggen was another name, which was used in particular when they didn't contain potato.



Many things were used as fillings through the years . . . meats, fish, vegetables, eggs and sometimes you would have a savoury filling at one end of the pasty and a fruit filling at the other.



There are pasty shops all over the UK, where you can just about any kind of pasty you could want nowadays . . . steak and stilton, steak and ale, Lamb and mint, cheese and onion, to name but a few. (I confess to having a certain fondness for the steak and stilton ones and the cheese and onion ones. Oh so scrummy!!)



These here today are a traditional, no frills steak, potato, onion and swede pasty. (A swede is a rutabaga, but you could also use turnip.)



Delicious and tender meat and vegetables encased in a delightfully flakey pastry. They're not as hard to make as some would suppose, but are really quite simple to execute. What's not to like!!!



*The Great Cornish Pasty*
Makes 4
Printable Recipe

Buttery Puffed Pastry, all flakey and encasing a delicious filling of beef, potato, onion and swede. Perfect and totally portable!!!

1 3/4 to 2 pounds of puff or shortcrust pastry
1/2 pound of beef skirt or chuck steak, sliced into very thin strips
1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 small swede, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 ounce butter (2 TBS), melted
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 freerange egg, beaten

Roll the pastry out 1/3 inch thick. Cut into rounds approximately 8 inches in diameter. You will need 4. I find a sandwich plate is perfect to use as a template.

Place the potatoes, onions, swede and steak into a large bowl. Season with salt and generously with lots of pepper.. Drizzle the melted butter over all and mix well together.

Divide the filling between the 4 rounds, placing it just slightly off centre. Brush the edges with some beaten egg and fold one half of the pastry round over to cover the filling. Seal shut and then pinch and roll the edges from one edge to the other, giving it a bit of a rope effect. Place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Pierce the tops in a few places and brush with beaten egg. Place into the refrigerator to ill for about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Place the tray of pasties into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and cook for a further 30 to 35 minutes until well risen and golden brown and the filling is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. You can shield with some foil if you think the pastry is getting too dark.

Serve hot or cold as you like. These are great picnic food!



There is a deliciously Creamy Fish Chowder cooking over in Oak Cottage today. If you are a regular reader of A Year From Oak Cottage, you will want to update your bookmarks, as the url has changed! Thanks!

16 comments

  1. I love the old fashioned names we have for food, but I've never heard of Tiddy Oggy or Hoggen, they sound so fun! Lovely of you to go to all that effort for lunch too ;0)

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  2. I do love a good Cornish pasty - yours look great Marie!

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  3. Now these look like the real deal! I am a complete oggy fan, i would say they rank in my top 5 foods for sure but i have not attempted to make them since my gran passed away as she always made the best ones! Yours look just the same though except i think she may have used a bit of carrot too...not sure. But anyway, that is my rambly way of saying these look absolutely gorgeous and one of my favourite recipes ive seen in a while, might well give it a go :)

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  4. Oh Scrumptious, I love traditional Cornish pasty's, I am now drooling over my laptop.....


    Hugs

    Sheilagh

    xxx

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  5. I LOVE Tiddy Oggies, I used to live in Cornwall at Boscastle and we had a great local pasty shop there. In France I have a local Cornish neighbour and she has promised to come down to show me how to make authentic pasties one day.....I have made them many times before, but it will be great to see how she makes them!
    LOVELY looking pasties and my favourite kind of pie!
    Lucky missionaries!
    Karen

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  6. Two of my favorite foods-just love pasties & fish chowder. Thanks for the recipes.

    Ruby

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  7. Love the idea of puff pastry:) How did you get the beautiful edge?
    You know about our meat pies here..I would try yours.. but of course:)

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  8. These look yummy and delicious dear Marie, have a nice day and lovely weekend, xxgloria

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  9. So glad you've got the crimp right, Marie!

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  10. Marie, Dumb question. I assume all the vegetables and meat are put into the pasty raw. Is that correct?

    thanks so much,
    Ginger

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  11. yummo! I have never made these but they are quite common around here as well. My mum made them for my Dad to eat when he was on the tractor. I need to update your new address,, night night, good morning!!

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  12. Ginger, yes they would be put in raw. That is why you cut the meat and vegetables very thin. I find it helps to partially freeze the meat. It cuts very easily then!

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  13. Can you point me to the pastry recipe you've used for the pasties in the photos? It looks much more like the pastry used for commercial pasties than I've been able to replicate at home so far!

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  14. Here is the Pastry I use, it will be enough for
    six good sized Cornish pasties.

    Ingredients

    500 g strong bread flour (it is important to use a stronger flour than normal as you need the extra
    strength in the gluten to produce strong pliable pastry) (Approximately 3 1/2 cups)
    120 g lard or white shortening (9 TBS)
    125 g butter (1/2 cup)
    1 tsp salt
    175 ml cold water (12 TBS)

    Rub the two types of fat lightly into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add water, bring the mixture together and knead until the pastry
    becomes elastic. This will take longer than normal pastry but it gives the pastry the strength that is needed to hold the filling and retain a good shape. This can also be done in a food mixer. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 3 hours in the fridge. This is a very important stage as it is almost impossible to roll and shape the pastry when fresh. Roll out the pastry and cut into circles, about the size of a small dinner plate. Proceed as above! Hope this helps. You could also just use regular rough puff or shortcrust.

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  15. Thanks. Looks like the kneading is the thing I've not been doing.

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    Replies
    1. Hope you like it. It's not really flaky more like a bread type of pastry. But very good nonetheless!

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