Traditional Cornish Pasty

Last weekend I had a baking mania because besides my Swabian dinette I also baked these delicious cornish pies.

The Cornish Pasties come from the south of England and were already a popular lunch dish for the miners from Cornwall. You can find more about this in the history below.

Although the delicious English pasties are not a culinary highlight for gourmets, they are a truly down-to-earth, well-filled lunch that can be transported easily. I have tried to prepare this English pastry myself and the result is this (almost) original Cornish Pasties recipe.

Preparation of the Cornish Pasties

1. Mix the flour with the egg, butter and salt and knead the dough well. Add a spoonful of water over and over again until you have a smooth dough that does not stick. Put the dough aside in a cool place to rest.

2. While the dough is resting, you can peel the onions, potatoes and turnips (mostly rutabagas, but they were not at hand, so parsnips and carrots) and cut them into small pieces. If they are smaller, they cook faster later.

3. Also cut the beef into small pieces and mix it with the vegetables and spices. You can season it as well, otherwise the Cornish Pasties will taste a bit „lax“. If you like, you can of course add a few more ingredients. I tried a sweet pasty and added a few raisins.

4. When the dough has rested for about 30-40 minutes, you can knead it again and divide it into 4 parts. Roll out each piece of dough into a circle. But make sure that the dough is not too thin, otherwise the dough could tear quickly. I have made good experiences with a dough thickness of about 3mm.

5. Now „fill“ the rolled out dough on one half with the spiced Cornish Pasty filling and leave about 1-2 cm of edge.

6. Now fold over the other half of the dough, like a calzone pizza. Press the edges well. More experienced bakers can press in some nice patterns at this point. I am happy about the pictures of your results ^^.

7. Spread the Cornish Pasty with some egg yolk and poke holes in it with a toothpick.

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8. Preheat the oven to approx. 220°C. It is best to use a pizza stone for this purpose, as this removes any remaining liquid during baking and the baking result is crispier later. Let the Cornish Pasties bake for about 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to about 175°C and let them bake for another 20 minutes. Let the pasties rest for a short time after the end of the baking time and serve them with some tasty dips.

Cornish Pasties – My conclusion

I can understand why pasties were so popular in Cornwall in the past and certainly are today. They are easy to prepare and sometimes you can make a little „leftover“ if you have a few ingredients leftover. In addition, a Cornish Pasty is also suitable as a lunch at work, because you can transport it well and it tastes both hot and cold.

By the way, if you prefer the vegetarian variant, have a look at Claudia’s recipe for her Veggie Love.  For all of you who are still looking for other delicacies, I have my European recipe collection here.

What do you think about the Cornish Pasties? Would you take the pasties from the south of England to work? I look forward to your comments.

Excursus: History of the Cornish Pasties

Originally the Cornish Pasties were a lunch of the miners of Cornwall. The wives filled them with all kinds of ingredients, from sweet to savory or half and half. To mark their pasties, the miners‘ initials were usually carved into the dough.

The thick edge was there so that the men could simply eat the pasties by hand. By the way, this was not eaten along with the pasty, but was thrown to the „miner goblins and spirits“. A positive effect was that a lot of poisonous arsenic was often released in the mine, with which the men’s hands came into contact. Since the rim was thrown away, they did not eat the poisonous substances.