CORNISH PASTIES

CORNISH PASTIES - "Oggy Oggy Oggy"

Tin-miners' wives or pasty sellers supposedly shouted "Oggy Oggy Oggy" – the response from any hungry miner or labourer would be Oi!, Oi!, Oi!

Now, there is a difference as to whether they are Cornish or Devon pasties and depends on how they are sealed; on the side in a half-moon shape with a crimped edge – Cornish and sat up and crimped on the top; Devon.

I often make sausage rolls for Mr TK and for a change have made him some pasties – after having a small holiday last year in Looe in Cornwall, he was hooked!

I only add potato, onion, swede and steak to mine and never carrots!

This recipe makes 6 large pasties.

So to start with you will need to make your own shortcrust pastry:

450g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

225g unsalted butter – room temperature

2 egg yolks

125ml cold water (approx.)

Most recipes that I’ve seen do half butter and lard, but it isn’t always easy to find, so I just used butter.

Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add the egg yolks and the water, bit by bit until the pastry comes together into a bowl.

Put into a bag or cover with cling film and put into the fridge for about an hour or so to firm up.

During this time you can prepare the filling.

450g potato, finely sliced – I find one large potato enough

150g swede, finely diced

150g onion, finely chopped

300g beef skirt, finely chopped – I used a good size piece of pave steak

Salt and black pepper

1tbsp plain flour

1 oxo cube or beef stock cube

1 tablespoon of crème fraiche

1 egg, beaten – to seal and brush over the tops of the pasties

Put all the ingredients into a bowl, adding the salt and pepper, oxo cube and crème fraiche and mix.

Heat the oven to 180 C.

Once the pastry is ready, take out of the fridge and divide into six equal parts. Roll each part into a good size circle, I use a small dinner plate to cut around.