Cornish Pasty

Variations

• Devon or Cornwall. ko.wikipedia defines the pasty as "a pastry originating in Devon" while also recording that it is now most closely associated with Cornwall and regarded as Cornwall's national dish. The argument is internal to England, so the country is not in doubt; this page uses the Cornish name because what the EU gave protected geographical status to in 2011 is the Cornish pasty.
• The PGI rules are effectively the definition: made in Cornwall, at least 12.5% beef and 25% vegetables, all of it going in raw, formed in a D shape and crimped along the side. Crimped over the top, it is not a Cornish pasty.
• The beef is diced, not minced. Mince gives up all its juice in the same time. Skirt is traditional because its connective tissue turns to gelatin over those fifty minutes.
• The miner's lunch. The thick crimp is said to have been a handle, held with ore-dusty hands and thrown away after. Historians think the evidence is thin, but the crimp really is a sturdy handle. There are also records of a pasty with meat at one end and apple or jam at the other — two courses in one.
• The exact opposite of an Aussie meat pie. That one browns the meat, adds stock, simmers it thick and lets it cool before it goes into the pastry, so the pastry only has to hold it and brown. Here the pastry is the cooking vessel. Two similar-looking foods that ask completely different things of the same shortcrust.
• And of beef wellington, whose page says "hot duxelles melts the pastry just as hot beef does" and cools everything completely. This filling goes in cold too, but for the opposite reason — not to keep water out, but so the water comes out inside the oven. Empanadas and samosas also cook their fillings first.
• It followed the Cornish miners: Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the pastes of Hidalgo in Mexico, and versions in Australia and South Africa.

Tips

• Add no stock. It is the commonest mistake. Think of it as a stew and pour in liquid and it boils over inside and splits the crimp. The water from raw potato, swede and onion is exactly the right amount; anything more is a disaster.
• Know that this contradicts the usual dumpling rule. Wrapping and sealing says water in the filling is what makes things burst, and tells you to salt vegetables and squeeze them out. For dumplings that is right. In a pasty that water is the cooking medium, so it stays — and the pastry and the seam are built to withstand it instead.
• Vegetables at 2-3mm. Cut them thicker and the potato is still hard after fifty-five minutes. A mandoline is the surest way.
• Dice the beef, and be generous with pepper. Salt and pepper are the whole seasoning, so underpepper it and you have a bland potato pie. A teaspoon of coarse pepper across four is about right.
• Strong flour and lard. A soft pie pastry splits under fifty minutes of steam. Strong flour gives the strength, lard the short bite. And do not knead it — you are using the flour's strength, not developing it (dough and gluten).
• Keep a clean 2cm border. Any filling smeared on it and that stretch will not bond, and that is where it will burst.
• Crimp along the side. Crimped over the top, the seam sits at the highest point and takes the weight and the pressure. Folded to the side, the pleats become slack that absorbs the expansion.
• Start at 220°C and drop to 170°C. The first heat sets the crust and fixes the shape; the lower heat cooks the inside through. Hold one temperature and you get either a burnt top or a raw middle.
• Cold is a legitimate way to eat one. It was a packed lunch. Refrigerated and reheated 15 minutes at 180°C it is very nearly as good as fresh.