Jamaican Patty (Turmeric Pastry with Spiced Beef)

Variations

• Chicken, vegetable, ackee, cheese: Korean Wikipedia lists the fillings as meat, vegetables, seafood, ackee and cheese. The method does not change — cooked, thickened, cooled.
• In coco bread: in Jamaica a patty is also eaten sandwiched in soft, sweet coconut bread as a meal.
• Its ancestor is Cornish: Korean Wikipedia describes the patty as the British pasty introduced in the colonial period, developed with the cumin and curry of Indian immigrants, the cayenne of African labourers and Jamaica's own scotch bonnet. That pasty is the Cornish pasty. The half-moon and the crimped edge survived; the handling of the filling turned right round (see Tips).
• The island's seasoning: scotch bonnet and allspice are the same ingredients as in jerk chicken. The curry powder is the Indian side.
• Other half-moon pies: empanadas and samosas cook their fillings first too.

Tips

• The yellow is painted on before the oven. Korean Wikipedia says the colour comes from an egg-yolk glaze with turmeric mixed into it. Browning describes karaage, whose coating has nothing to brown, and concludes: "So colour goes out of service as a reading". The patty gets to the same place from the other side: the colour is there before it bakes. So doneness is read by turning one over and checking the base is dry.
• Turmeric goes into fat. Aloo gobi gives the reason: "Its colour sits in curcumin, which is fat-soluble and barely dissolves in water". In the pastry it is rubbed in with the butter and shortening, and on top it goes into yolk rather than water — both places where there is fat for the colour to dissolve in.
• Filling cooked, thickened, cooled. The Cornish pasty fills raw and forbids liquid: "Think of it as a stew and pour in liquid and it boils over inside and splits the crimp." On that page "The pastry here is not a wrapper around a filling, it is the vessel the filling cooks in." The patty's filling is a stew from the start, cooked in water. So before it is sealed in, breadcrumbs tie that water up until the filling holds on a spoon.
• Beef Wellington explains the cooling. Beef Wellington: "Hot duxelles melts the pastry just as hot beef does." Warm filling melts the cold fat in the pastry and the crust never crisps.
• Do not knead the pastry. The flakes come from pieces of fat still whole in the dough when it bakes. Add only as much water as it takes to hold together.
• Set the heat with the pith. Scotch bonnet is fierce. Start with half, with the seeds and white pith scraped out, and leave a little pith in only if you want it hotter (chilli and heat).