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The Traditional Cornish Pasty |
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This recipe is for 4 good sized Cornish Pasties
500 gms 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.
120 gms white shortening
25 gms cake margarine
5 gms salt
175 gms cold water
METHOD
Pastry
Mix fat lightly into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add water and beat in a food mixer until pastry clears and 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.
Leave to rest for 3 hours in a refrigerator, this is a very important stage as it is almost impossible to roll and shape the pastry when fresh
FILLING
450 gms good quality beef skirt
450 gms potato
250 gms Swede
200 gms onion
Salt & pepper to taste( 2/1 ratio)
Clotted cream or butter
Chop the above finely then add to the rolled out circles of pastry raw. Layer the vegetables and meat adding plenty o f seasoning. Put your dollop of cream or a knob of butter on top. Then bring the pastry around and crimp together. Try practicing on a potato first or just flatten like a turnover and mark with a fork. Crimping is the secret to a true Cornish pasty but it really has to be taught it is almost impossible to describe.
HANDY HINTS
Always use a firm waxy potato such as Maris pier or Wilja.
Put in plenty of seasoning.
Ensure that all your veg is freshly prepared
There is a great debate as to what is a turnip. To the rest of the country they are Swedes but in Cornwall they insist that the round yellow vegetable is a turnip!! Never attempt to add carrot, this is sacrilege!!
Use a cut of BEEF called skirt. This is the underside of the belly of the animal. It's juice produces wonderful gravy, has no fat or gristle and cooks in the same amount of time as the raw vegetables.
Butter or cream gives the pasty that extra richness.
Cooking time and temperature
Gas No6 approx 50 min-1 hour
Electric 210 approx 50min-1 hour
Fan assisted 165 approx 40 mins
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THE CORNISH PASTY
The Cornish pasty is a regional dish from the far Southwestern peninsula of the British Isles. It is well known and much enjoyed throughout Britain.
It was probably the first complete take-away meal originally designed for the Cornish miner and farmer who was away working all day and needed a meal but had no facilities to prepare one. The reason the filling was contained in a pastry case with a thick crust along one side was to hold on to, especially as their hands were dirty or tainted with tin, copper or iron. Often in previous times this was discarded or fed to "The Cornish Knockers" (ghosts of dead colleagues said to haunt the mines). The traditional filling was meat or fish, potato, onion, turnip and a little butter or cream.
The housewife prepared these daily for the man of the house and for the children who took them to work or school. It was the staple diet of the Cornish for many years. As the mines in Cornwall declined and "Cousin Jack" travelled extensively to find work this recipe went with him and still today one can still find small outcrops of societies all over the world producing the Cornish pasty, especially in Australia, South Africa, Canada and America.
There are many discussions as to the best pasty, the position of the crimp, what type of pastry to use the content etc. Nowadays the younger generation still love their pasty but with the demands of modern day life fewer people are making them.
The commercially produced pasty in the UK is a growing business within the peninsular with thousands made every day: unfortunately the standard can vary enormously and a lot of these products have given the County's national dish a bad name. You can get a commercially produced pasty in all shapes, sizes and flavours some bearing little resemblance to the original article.
I believe that in England the general public are turning their backs on mass produced tasteless fare and are again looking for good wholesome food and regional fare is at the top of the list.
With the advent of time the variety of fillings has moved away from the original recipe to cater to the demands of the general public and to a certain extent reflecting the regional and ethnic influences on our society over the years. Despite these factors plus the problems experienced with British beef over the years we still find that the traditional steak pasty still far outsells any other flavour.
At the Chough Bakery we have won many prestigious prizes including the Golden pasty award by Mr William Grimes, the New York food critic, aimed at finding the best pasty in the Southwest. We were also awarded a silver medal by “The Taste of the West” in 2007 and then achieved first prize in the 2008 Western Bakery Championships.
The team have worked long and hard to develop a recipe and production method that is adaptable to all size of operation; using equipment that is readily available in most bakers’ kitchens.
We are constantly asked why our pasty is so good, why they taste differently to any others. There is no real secret, we believe that there is only one way to produce a good pasty and that is on site. Any commercial pasty has to have chemical additives, be frozen transported defrosted etc no matter how good the product is at the start, at the end of this process it will taste inferior. This is a route we do not want to take. We want people to taste the real thing not cheap mass produced imitations. The answer lies in returning to the original concept and production methods. Always use the best quality ingredients available, remember you are producing a premium product. Always prepare on site using the best quality meat and a good strong pastry to hold it together.
You can make a pasty at home, just follow the recipe and ask if you need help. If when you are next in Padstow and are experiencing problems I can always fix up a quick lesson for you,
Happy baking ELAINE |
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