How do you do your Cornish pasty?

[ImAGoofyGoober]

My auntie showed me how to make Cornish pasty’s a few months ago and now we’ve made them a few times together. She insists that you don’t need to add any gravy as the meat is enough flavour, however I do find her recipe very dry.
I secretly made some by myself today and added some gravy granules as an experiment...they are lovely and juicy!

So what else could I add to flavour them? Or any other ideas what I could fill them with?

These are what I made. Really pleased with my pastry but think I need to work on my crimping!

No gravy needed, the fat from the meat and juice from the vegetables makes a decent moist coating within.
I don't like pasties, but I make them quite often.

I tend to make them with leftover casserole, so there is some sauce in there, but not too much as it spills. Yours look delicious....

Oh, missed the "other fillings" idea.

I shove all kinds of things in my pasties.

Leftover stews. Curries. Even (shocker, I know) leftover macaroni cheese. I once made spinach and feta pasties (cook the spinach first and squeeze out excess water) with puff pastry and they were gobbled up. I made these fairly small, about palm sized, for a picnic.

Are you my auntie peter?! I’ve tried it with just salt and pepper for seasoning a couple of times now but find them so dry, I wonder what I’m doing wrong.
These ones with a little sprinkle of gravy are much nicer.

If I was to use leftover casserole, do I still need to cook it for as long in the oven?

Meat, swede, onion and potato plus salt and pepper.

That's it. My main tip is getting all the veg and meat cut the same size so they cook at the same rate.

I've never found it dry - the water in the veg shouldn't make let that happen - maybe your ratio of veg to meat is too low?

That said I'm also happy to "free range" with my pasties and have know to do baked beans and cheese (for the kids lunch boxes), left over stew/pie fillings and even left over portions of chilli mixed with rice and cheese (a favourite of DH who now asked me to make extra chilli so there's left over for a pasty or two

So what's your recipe then OP?

Be useful to see what ingredients you're using!

500g STRONG white flour - the same you use to make bread (as opposed to just white plain flour which is used for pastry) - you need the higher gluten content which gives the dough strength and elasticity
120 g white shortening eg TREX or lard - obviously white shortening is less fattening!
125 g butter
1 teaspoon salt
175 ml cold water
1 beaten egg or milk to brush pasties prior to baking - gives them a nice golden finish

For the filling:
450g good quality beef skirt cut into cubes
450g diced potato - preferably Maris Piper or Wilja (firm and waxy potatoes). A floury potato will disintegrate on cooking.
250g diced swede
200g sliced onion
Salt and pepper to taste - traditionally they are very peppery

I did use a decent amount of meat and veg but still found it dry.
Going to try some of these other ideas too!

It's a while since I made them but I'm sure we put a little butter in with the filling to make a gravy

Lovely recipe OP!

I often add parsnip and carrot. Swede too, as a pp has already said.
Definitely lots of pepper.
A dollop of gravy browning and I've even added a teaspoon of marmite to beef it up a bit.

Mmm thank you for sharing your recipe, OP. I'm making them this weekend as they sound absolutely scrumptious.

I’ll copy and paste the rest of the instructions socio, just need to find it in my emails.

I eat 'em, but don't 'do' 'em

500g STRONG white flour - the same you use to make bread (as opposed to just white plain flour which is used for pastry) - you need the higher gluten content which gives the dough strength and elasticity
120 g white shortening eg TREX or lard - obviously white shortening is less fattening!
125 g butter
1 teaspoon salt
175 ml cold water
1 beaten egg or milk to brush pasties prior to baking - gives them a nice golden finish

For the filling:
450g good quality beef skirt cut into cubes
450g diced potato - preferably Maris Piper or Wilja (firm and waxy potatoes). A floury potato will disintegrate on cooking.
250g diced swede
200g sliced onion
Salt and pepper to taste - traditionally they are very peppery

Method

1. Rub the two types of fat lightly into the flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs
2. Add water and bring mixture together and knead until 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 be done in a food mixer - if you have one!
3. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 3 to 4 hours in the fridge. This is a very important stage as it is almost impossible to roll and shape the pastry while fresh.
4. Switch on oven to heat up to 180 degrees. Meanwhile roll out the pastry and cut it into circles approx 20cm in diameter. A side plate is an ideal size to use as a guide.
5. Layer the vegetables and meat on top of the bottom half of the pastry circles, adding plenty of seasoning - particularly pepper.
6. Fold the top half pastry circle over and crimp the edges together. You can probably find a You Tube clip on crimping! Or you can simply brush a little water around the edges of the pasty and press them together with a fork.
7. Brush pasties with beaten egg or an egg and milk mixture. Place in preheated oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until golden. When cooked, place on wire rack to cool and to avoid getting a soggy bottom!
8. They are best eaten warm - or freeze on day of cooking when they have cooled down and reheat gently after they have defrosted. They are not as good if just kept in the fridge until the next day

Hadn’t thought of adding marmite, might try that next time!

Oh you should give it a go Joy! I’m no whizz in the kitchen but found this easy enough to get to grips with.
There is nowhere round here that does a decent pasty and I’m sick of buying them to find some sort of cat food mush inside

Nice to have some in the freezer ready for when you fancy one.

Are you using plenty of veg, and fatty enough meat? If you're using something like rump instead of skirt it won't give you the juices you need (though maybe lean meat plus gravy is the healthier option!)

Yes as a PP said dot some knobs of butter on top of the filling before crimping.

Omg you are missing the main ingredient, a spoonful of butter or clotted cream, no wonder they are dry !

I'm a terrible baker but I'd love to have a go at these.

As others have said put a knob of butter on top of the filling.

My grandpa (proper cornish) used to cut his past in half and then put a knob of clotted cream in to melt into a “gravy”. Not necessary, as very moist without, but lovely.

How do you stop gravey mixing with the apple?

Clotted cream?! I might give it a try on my next batch. The sprinkle of gravy granules is working well so far though.

Ps I only refrigerated for 1 hour but it was enough for my pastry.

My mum adds a small knob of butter (used to be dripping) to hers. She's Cornish.

Try chopping the meat more finely (slices rather than cubes) OP, it may release more meat juices into the mix.
Never had problems with dry pasty filling myself, and I follow an 'equal measures of each' approach.