The traditional Cornish Pasty (it literally has protected status) is the Oggy pasty, which includes beef (either minced or diced), potatoes, onions, and swedes (which you might know as turnips). Mine is not totally traditional, but they are made just the way I like them. I use ground beef simply because it’s easier and pair it with carrots instead of turnips, and a few more seasonings than the simple salt and pepper a Cornish miner’s wife might have used.
There are plenty of recipes where the filling cooks fully in the oven, but I’ve always preferred to start it on the stovetop, which is just a matter of browning up some ground beef with onion, potato, and carrot and seasoning it with Worcestershire sauce, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. While your filling cools off, you can work on your crust, which is an all-butter dough that has some egg yolks for added pliability.
Once your dough has chilled, you’ll portion it out into six balls and roll each one out. You want a thickness of about 3/8 an inch, but you can go a little thinner if you’d like. (I like a sturdy crust here!) You’ll line up your filing on half of the circle and leave a border of half-an-inch.
Then, wet the edges of the dough and fold it over, crimping or twisting the edges to seal your pasty shut.
Three little slits on top is enough of a vent for steam to escape…
… and after about thirty minutes in the oven, you’ll have a crusty, golden brown, beefy, piping hot hand pie to enjoy. These are so easy to love it’s no wonder that they’ve become a time-honored tradition in so many corners of the world and I’m pretty happy about the fact that I grew up with them as a part of my life. I’ve since moved from my hometown, but my new town happens to have a pasty shop too. Lucky me!
I still make them for myself (and my family) a time or two per year and the good news is that they freeze beautifully. Just par-bake your assembled pasties for twenty minutes, and then let them cool before you wrap them up and pop them in the freezer. When you’re ready to enjoy them, just bake the frozen pasty for another twenty minutes. They’re a delicious dinner to have on hand! And pro-tip — a few dashes of malt vinegar is the perfect accompaniment to cut through the beefiness.
