DBE IN LOUISIANA
A British and Commonwealth Women's Organization
CORNISH PASTIES
"Pastry rolled out like a plate
Piled with turmut, tates and mate.
Doubled up, and baked like fate;
That's a Cornish Pasty . . ." (Anon)
Makes 6 pasties . . .
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Your favorite pastry - enough for 2 pie crusts
6 - 8 oz extra-lean stewing steak, cut very small
Small onion (4 - 5 oz) chopped
Small turnip, swede or rutabaga, chopped. OPTIONAL
Small potato (4 -5 oz) cubed the same size as the meat
Salt, pepper and thyme
1 egg, beaten with a little water
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Preheat oven to 400*
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Make your favorite short pastry, and put in fridge to chill while mixing the filling.
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Chop the meat and veggies into very small pieces and put in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.
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Divide the pastry into 6 equal pieces, rolled into balls. Roll out each ball into a round (doesn't have to be perfectly round) about 6"-7" in diameter. Don't roll the pastry too thin or stretch it.
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Spoon 1/6 of the filling into the middle of each pastry round. Spread the filling so that it stretches almost completely across the diameter of each round. Brush around the pastry edges with beaten egg.
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Pull the top and bottom edges of the pastry together, doubling it over at the top if necessary. Press the edges together to make a tight seal. A tight seal makes juicy pasties. Twist the edges to give a rope effect, or crimp with a knife. Brush the outside with egg.
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Bake at 400* for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350* for a further 40 minutes.
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PASTY LORE
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There's a lot of interesting background to Cornish pasties, which originated as a takealong lunch for Cornish tin miners and farmers.
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In some cases, the inside of the pasty was a dual mixture - meat at one end, and apple or some other fruit at the other.
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Sometimes the crust was extended at both ends, to allow miners to eat the pasty with dirty hands, and throw away the crust ends.
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Cornish cooks were known to carve the initials of their miner in to the crust to identify the pasty.
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The Cornish have a great sense of humor. It is said that some housewives would mark one end of the past "TM" for "tis meat," and the other end of the pasty "TM" for "tisn't meat."