Genuine Cornish Pasty Recipe: Make Your Own Pasties
By earner
Genuine Cornish Pasty Recipe
The Cornish are very proud of their Cornish Pasties - and keeping them genuine and authentic is a constant battle as people across the country make hundreds of other pasties and call them Cornish pasties. But they're not! They're just pasties, or pasty-like.
Cornish pasties can be a healthy meal too; made with fresh ingredients, there's no added sugar, you're in control of any salt - and they use fresh ingredients and vegetables, so they can count towards your 5 a day!
Here's a genuine Cornish pasty recipe, you can make your own classic Cornish pasties easily at home. Try it and enjoy!
CORNISH PASTY RECIPE: Method
Makes: 4 traditional Cornish Pasties
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 60 Minutes
There are just two parts to making Cornish pasties: making the pastry, mixing the ingredients together. Simple! (Tip: you could even buy ready-made pastry if it's something you'd rather not do).
Cornish Pasty Pastry
- 400grams plain flour
- 100grams butter or margarine, chilled and cubed
- 100grams lard, chilled and cubed
- A pinch of salt to season
Cornish Pasty Filling
- 450grams beef skirt or chuck steak
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 200grams swede or turnip, peeled and sliced thinly - rutabaga in the States
- 200grams potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
- A knob of Cornish butter
- Freshly ground black pepper to season
Note:the vegetables should be sliced thinly, not cubed. Cube them if you like, but a genuine Cornish Pasty will use sliced veg.
- Genuine Cornish Pasty Recipe
Genuine Cornish Pasty Recipe. Printable recipe sheet.
CORNISH PASTY RECIPE: Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4.
- Make your Cornish Pasty pastry first, then put it into the fridge to rest while you prepare the filling. Pastry is better if it's had time to rest and chill - it's also easier to roll out.
CORNISH PASTY RECIPE: Pastry
- Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
- Add the butter, margarine and lard and use your fingers to work the flour into the fat until it is like fine breadcrumbs (you can use a food processor to do this).
- Sprinkle cold water onto the mix, just a tablespoonful at a time, mixing it as you go until you have a stiff dough. You have to go slowly or you'll end up with too much water in the dough, which causes a dry pastry.
- Flour your worktop and knead the dough gently for a minute or two, then wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. Pastry stored like this will still be fine for a day or two, so you can make up a batch, or cook ahead.
Making Your Cornish Pasty Filling
In a Cornish pasty, all the ingredients are put into the pasty raw, they cook inside the pastry once in the oven.
- Peel and finely slice your vegetables. Slice the beef into small, thin pieces.
Building The Mother of Cornish Pasties
- Remove your pastry from the fridge and cut it into quarters, rolling each one in your floured hands so they form four identical sized balls of dough.
- Lightly flour your worktop and roll out each dough ball so it is round and about 3-4mm thick. Using a dinner plate, placed on the dough, cut out a circle. Keep the scraps for decorating the top of the pasties if you wish.
- Layer each of the vegetables in the centre of each round of pastry.
- Place the meat layer on top of the layered potato/onion/swede.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Brush the edges of the pastry with water before folding one side right over, making a D-shape. Proper Cornish pasties are crimped at one edge, not in the middle at the top.
- Crimp the edges together, folding it over piece by piece to seal the edge. Prick the pastry to let the excess steam out, not too much though as the ingredients cook inside the pastry.
- Place all four pasties on a baking tray, brush with an egg wash, or some milk and cook in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes, then turn down the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5 and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the pastry is a golden brown and the filling cooked through.
- Check your Cornish pasty is cooked by putting a fork in the middle to find out if it is tender. If the pasties need a bit longer, then give them another 10 minutes... if the pastry is looking a little over-cooked then simply cover them with foil.
- Remove your hot pasties from the oven and put them to one side to cool down before eating.
Proper Cornish TV Interview. Watch the crimping at 3:34
Storing and Reheating Cornish Pasties
You can store your pasties, sealed, in the fridge for a few days. You can microwave them hot again. Or, you could refrigerate the uncooked pasties in a sealed box for 2-3 days until you're ready to cook one fresh.
CORNISH PASTY HISTORY
Hundreds of years ago, Cornish miners would take Cornish pasties to work with them, down in the tin mines. If the mine were close to the village, then the miners' wives might even deliver them hot at lunchtime, but most of the time the miners would eat their Cornish pasties for lunch while still underground.
The thick crimped edge enabled them to hold the pasty with their dirty hands, yet still eat their lunch fairly hygienically (although they'd still have had dirty faces/lips, so I'm not too sure how well that worked!). The crimped edge of the Cornish pasty would be thrown away.
Cornish pasty pastry had to be strong enough to withstand being taken to work and possibly even dropped without breaking open.
It's said that traditional miners' Cornish pasties would have meat at one end and a sweet filling at the other end. The wives would put a piece of pastry on the top to mark out which end they should start at.
Cornish Pasty Recipe Cheats
- If you want to cheat, then why not buy ready-made, or frozen, shortcrust pastry.
For many people, pastry takes too long, or they're simply not that good at it - so why not cheat and just buy a pack of shortcrust pastry to start with.
The Best Cornish Pasty In Cornwall
If you've ever had a Cornish pasty, when in Cornwall, or through one of the franchise companies across the world, please leave a comment below and tell me which Cornish pasty you've tried and how good it was.
Let's find the best Cornish pasty in Cornwall!
Comments
Yes, all celts together!
I didn't know there was a Welsh pasty :)
I will have to find a Welsh pasty now and try it.
OMG, you have my mouth watering. I've only had two Cornish pasties in my lifetime and they are sooooo good. As I believe I told you in another hub, I had my first at the pasty place right there on the harbor in Padstow. I have tried to reproduce them here and I can get the inside right, but my crust still sucks. I've tried the premade crust and tried to just do it like a fruit pie and it turned out ok, but just not the same. You can bet that's the first thing I'm going to buy once I get back over to England!
Hey KCC
You should try to make your own Cornish pasties again - slice the veggies thinly, not cubes! And use raw ingredients. The meat needs to be cut up small - almost a "minced by hand" consistency.
And the layering is important. Layer the potato, then the turnip/swede, then the onion. Top off with the chuck steak and season, then just flip the pastry over, crimp and bake.
The ingredients cook in their own steam and juices.
Oh dear, now you've got me wanting a freshly made Cornish pasty!
Welsh pasty. It's just my version of a corned beef pasty with leeks in it.
Oh - what can I say! Food of the gods! I have family in Plymouth in SW UK (for the benefit of your non UK readers) and there is a company there called Ivor Dewdneys (you can Google them, they have a web site) - amazing pasties, always queues - but it's just inside the Devon border. This is a great recipe; thanks - I've been brought up on the Cornish pasty, and know a good one when I see it!
well wot can i say ... in my opinion once u have tasted a 'proper cornish pasty' no other will compare... living in cornwall most of my life, with cornish parents and grandparents the first thing to learn was how to make a 'proper' cornish pasty... and of course the dreaded by some 'crimping' of the crust.. lol this comes with practice..!!! and of course the traditional way is to make 'shortcrust' pastry and not 'puff' .. i prefer to use a cut of beef called 'skirt' and not chuck steak, cut small but definately not minced......
I have used the recipe 3 times now,,,,,as im not bad i have in the oven, chicken and beef jalfrezi pastys, this smell is delightful in the house, thanks for the tips and let u know how they get on....
I had my first pastie at the Kings Cross Station in London. Very rib sticking but I enjoyed it very much. I made Cornish pasties for the first time today. My second batch turned out the best. I used more lard than butter and made sure that I chilled the dough well. My British husband was thrilled for a taste of home.
That's great Janice. They're so 'easy' to make because you're not having to actually cook the ingredients and get ingredients spot on. They cook themselves!
Glad you enjoyed your Cornish pasties :)
I'm from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA, where the miner's pasty was popularized long ago. Pasties were made regularly at home when I was growing up, and remain a family tradition. All pasties I've tasted, homemade or commercially available, have had cubed ingredients. Some have mistakenly been made with too-lean meat. We've always eaten pasties with a pat of butter on top, while some prefer a bit of catsup. I always ate the crimped part of the crust first, my favorite part, mixed into the hot ingredients. I would relish a trip to Cornwall to feast on the "real" thing.
Great Recipie. When you are filling the pasty try holging one half up with a rolling pin and layering the othe side up with beef and veg. Then fold the othe pastry over. I find this easier and less messy.
I grew up eating pasties. Both sides of my family come from GB and many of them were miners. Many years ago I made them for show and tell.
In my younger days I played Lawn Bowls and once a year we had a day called "Cousin Jacks" day.The lady bowlers and wives,would bake Cornish pasties.I always tried to get a pasty baked by the late Gwen Holten,who came from Cornwell.She baked and sold Cornish Pasties for extra income.This article reminded me of her and her most tasty Cornish Pasties.
Hi Alex
That's a lovely story! Thanks for sharing it with us. It's lovely when we're transported back to great days from the past.
Gwen Holten would no doubt be pleased you remember her so warmly.
Hi earner, A genuine Cornish Pasty recipe I am so looking forward to trying this, many thanks for sharing, bookmarking and voting up.
Hi earner, A genuine Cornish Pasty recipe I am so looking forward to trying this, many thanks for sharing, bookmarking and voting up.
I know that original Cornish pasties are crimped at the side; but who made the pasties with the crimping across the top?
Marj, if pasties are crimped on the top they are viewed as Devon pasties. There was a Cornish pasty maker that were crimping theirs on the top and they got quite upset when theirs were deemed to not be Cornish pasties as they didn't match the specific criteria protected by the EU protection document.
I hope that helps.
Tried the recipe and found that the pastry fell apart when I was folding the pasty. Still tasted great but pretty messy.
Can you freeze the pasties raw? Or do you have to cook them first and then freeze them?
Hi Larry
You can freeze Cornish pasties raw. In fact, many Cornish pasty makers send out unbaked/frozen pasties to bakeries to bake/sell on their own premises.
We used to have an English pub in our town that had "Cornish" pasties, so it said on the menu. The couple who owed the pub were from England. Their pasties were crimped across the top, flaky pastry, cubed beef with potatoes and onions, and they served a small pitcher of gravy on the side.
My grand-mother made a pasty for Queen Victoria.....and in her later years when beef was bred with out vertually any fat her secret ingredient was to put a knob of cornish cream in before crimping...i still use this method today it certainly adds to the flavour and make a lovely moist pasty
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Cornish Pasty in the News
- Treasury performs U-turn on George Osborne's pasty tax - Scotsman
BBC News Treasury performs U-turn on George Osborne's pasty tax Scotsman He said: “This is great news for the Cornish pasty industry and resolves all of the problems that had been raised . “The government has run a genuine consultation and now there is an improved proposal as a result. The Treasury should be given credit ... Omnishambles revisited?BBC News 'Pasty Tax' U-turnITV News all 357 news articles » - 2 hours ago
- Ginsters owner's £100000 to Tories days after pasty tax - This is Cornwall
Ginsters owner's £100000 to Tories days after pasty tax This is Cornwall A boss of Cornish pasty firm Ginsters has donated £100000 to the Conservative Party amid the controversy over George Osborne's "pasty tax". Mark Samworth, a director of food company Samworth Brothers, which owns Cornwall-based Ginsters, ... and more » - 2 days ago
- Prominent pasty tax campaigner scoops national award - DCA (press release)
Prominent pasty tax campaigner scoops national award DCA (press release) It's a great honour to be recognised by my peers, and holding the title will hopefully add even more weight to Francis Clark's ongoing campaign to support the Cornish pasty industry and fight the pasty tax.” Francis Clark also picked up the award for ... - 9 hours ago
Photos by:
Warrens Bakery Pasty: Wikimedia
Pasty Shop Sign: Ian Britton
Turnip: Wikimedia
Potatoes: incurable_hippie
Sliced Onions: newwavegurly
scarytaff 2 years ago
Great pasty hub, earner. I'll link it to my version of a pasty, not Cornish of course, more Welsh, but we're all Celts together, ain't we?