If you’re looking for a taste of authentic English comfort food, a traditional Cornish pasty recipe is a must try. Originating from Cornwall in the 13th century, Cornish pasties were created as a hearty, hand held meal for miners working long days underground. With their distinctive crimped edges and golden pastry shell, they are as iconic as they are delicious.

A true Cornish pasty is filled with tender beef, potatoes, onions, and turnips (or swede), all sealed in a flaky shortcrust pastry that keeps the filling moist and flavorful. Baked until perfectly golden, these pasties are rich, filling, and packed with the savory flavors of traditional English cooking. Whether you enjoy them hot from the oven or cold as a portable snack, authentic Cornish pasties are a timeless recipe that brings a piece of Cornwall’s heritage straight to your kitchen.

Cornish pasties are very easy to make, however there's a few details that can trip you up if you are not carefull, but once mastered you'll never buy a store one again!.

This recipe will make 6 pasties based on a 8 inch plate for the dough base.

Pastry

Notes

1. This pastry recipe is the standard flour/fats 2:1 ratio, for the butter and lard you can just use 113 g which is 1 stick and it won't make any difference.
2. It is important to use bread flour when making the pastry for a Cornish Pastry. This is because using bread flour will make a stronger pastry (because of the higher protein content), this will help stop the pastry breaking when being folded over and when crimping.

Filling

Notes

1. Beef skirt is the recommended and traditional beef that is used in Cornish pasties, however it can be hard to get hold of. Alternatives are sirloin, flank or ribeye, but these should be trimed and all fat removed. In the USA you can ask for fajita meat which is commonly sold in Mexican markets.
2. It is recommended that "waxy" potatoes are used as these hold up better, varieties are: Aaron Pilot, Mayan Gold. Starchy potatoes such as Russet, Idaho and Red can break down and become mushy, but I guess you can use whatever you have!.

Preparing The Pastry

1. The pastry is standard shortcrust pastry, except as mentioned, it's important to use bread flour, so if you are familiar with making pastry you can skip a head to the making the filling.
2. Mix the flour and salt.
3. Cut the cold butter and lard into small cubes, in a large bowl add to flour and use fingers to make a bread crumb type consistency (or use a food processor).
4. Add the cold water a little at a time, mix with a wooden spoon, bring the dough together and tip out on to a lightly floured surface. Nead a little until you have a fairly uniform and smooth dough. Wrap in film and leave in fridge for at least 1 hour.
5. Divide the pastry into 6 equal amounts, form each into a ball then using a rolling pin roll out into a circle as best you can, you want to try and make a 8 inch circle I suggest this method as opposed to rolling out the pastry and using a plate to cut out a perfect circle. Doing it this way is much quicker and you don't have any bits of pastry left over. If you want to do the plate method you will probably need to make a lot more pastry.

Preparing The Filling

1.  The filling consists of potato, onion, swede and meat, nothing else, and definitley no peas or carrots.
2. Pay attention to the quantities because it's very easy to make way too much which you will never fit into 6 pasties.
3. All the filling should be diced into pieces no more than 3/4 inch, but it's much better to dice into slices. The reason being the filling will fit together better and there will ne no corners sticking out which tends to puncture the pastry.
4. I always divide the meat into 6 equal amounts to make sure it's evenly distributed, the rest can just be mixed up together. I prefer to season the filling with a little salt and pepper before adding to the pasty.