Video:How to Make Cornish Pasties

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Transcript:How to Make Cornish Pasties

Cornish pasties are a very, very famous British dish. They were originally made for Cornish tin miners a way of taking their lunch down the mine with them. But first we need to make some pastry.

Cornish Pasty Pastry Ingredients

You'll need:

• 4 oz/110g all purpose/plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 2oz/ 55g butter, cubed
• 2-3 tbsp cold water

Make the Pasty Pastry

To make pastry use all purpose or plain flour, butter a little salt and some cold water. First sieve the flour into a large glass bowl, add the butter and a pinch of salt. Working quickly, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse sand and there are no large lumps of butter left. Then add the water one tablespoon at a time. As soon as the water is absorbed, using your fingers bring the pastry together into a ball.

Refrigerate the Pasty Dough

This now needs to be wrapped in plastic wrap and popped into the refrigerator for 15 minutes or 30 minutes if possible.

Roll Out the Pasties

And now we’ll put the pasties together. Begin by rolling out the pastry into a circle to the size of a tea plate, approximately 6 inches across. Trim off the excess pastry. This is the base for the Cornish pasty.

Cornish Pasty Filling

For the pasty filling:

• 1/4 cup/50g onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup /110g potato, cut into 1/4 inch /5 mm dice
• 4oz /110g rump steak, cut into small cubes
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Cook the Cornish Pasties

Into a glass bowl add the beef, potato, chopped onion and salt and pepper. Mix these together really well. Lay the filling down the center of the pastry circle. Using a beaten egg and a pastry brush, dampen the edges of the pastry circle. Draw the edges of the pastry together and press well to seal the pasty. Brush all over with beaten egg to create a golden brown pasty when cooked.

Cook in a very hot oven, 425F/220C/Gas 7 for 45 minutes.