I cannot tell a lie; though I've had them, I've never made them. Also, I've had the individual ones, not 'pies', like this recipe from FoodNetwork seems to indicate. But the ingredients sound about right.
Home > Recipes
Pastie
Recipe courtesy Dennis Borst
Show: Calling All Cooks
Episode: Quahog Chowder/Cornish Pastie
Recipe Summary
Yield: 2 Pasties
Ratings and Reviews
User Rating: 4 Stars
For the piecrust:
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 egg, beaten
1 pound lard
6 cups sifted flour
Put the vinegar in a 1-cup measuring cup and fill the remainder with water. Add the beaten egg to a small bowl and add the vinegar and water and mix together. In a large mixing bowl cut the lard into the flour. Add the liquid and mix together. The less you handle the dough the better the crust will be.
When the mixture is totally combined into the dough cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator until you will be putting the pasties together.
For the pastie:
2 to 3 pounds round steak
4 medium potatoes
1 rutabaga
2 carrots
1 1/2 onions, diced
Salt
Pepper
Butter
1 egg
Water
Trim all of the fat from the steak and dice into 1/2-inch cubes. Peel and dice potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes. Peel and dice rutabaga into pieces smaller than the potatoes. Peel and dice carrots into pieces smaller than the potatoes. Place all ingredients into a very large mixing bowl and combine thoroughly with your hands. Be sure to start with clean hands and nails. Add the salt and pepper and mix the ingredients to combine. My mother used enough pepper to turn the entire bowl black before mixing the ingredients.
Roll out the pie crust and place bottom crusts into 2 (9-inch) pie tins. Do not grease the pie tins before adding the crust. Next, fill the pie tin with the meat and vegetable mixture. It should be heaping since the mixture will cook down. Before placing the top crust in place, add a large pat of butter to the top of the pie filling. Remember we cut off all the fat on the meat earlier. Place top pie crust and trim to finish. You can use the finger-and-thumb method to finish the crust, like Grandma did, or you can use a fork to finish the crust. Before placing into the oven, cut 2 slits in the crust for steam to leave the pastie while cooking. Also using the egg and a little water, make an egg wash to brush on the crust. This will give the crust a golden, shiny finish.
Bake the Pasties in a preheated 350 to 375 degree oven, middle rack for 90 minutes. Watch the crust so that it doesn't get too brown in the cooking process.
Edit to add:
THE CORNISH PASTY
It was once said that the Devil would never dare to cross the River Tamar into Cornwall for fear of ending up as a filling in a Cornish Pasty. For centuries the Cornish have been filling their famous pasties with almost any ingredients that you would care to think of. The traditional filling is, of course, beef and potato, usually with slices of onion and swede mixed in as well, but the humble pasty can also be found in a number of other guises. Popular fillings down the years have included Egg and Bacon, Rabbit, Apples, Figs, Jam, and Egg and Currants. There is virtually no limit to what tasty filling you might find when you take a first bite into that delicious crunchy pastry! Surprisingly, however, in a region where the sea plays such an important role in everyday life, fish has never been regarded as an appropriate pasty filling. In fact, the more superstitious among Cornish fishermen will refuse to take a pasty on board their boat when they set out to sea, in the belief that it will bring them bad luck.
The pasty originally evolved to meet the needs of tin mining, that other great, but now sadly declined, Cornish industry. A hearty meal wrapped in a pastry casing made for a very practical lunch (or "croust" , as they used to call it ) down in the dark and damp tunnels of the mine. Some mines even built huge ovens on the surface to keep the miner's pasties hot until it was time to eat.
Tradition has it that the original pasties contained meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, in order to give the hard-working men 'two courses'. Cornish housewives also marked their husband's initials on the left-hand side of the pastry casing, in order to avoid confusion at lunchtime. This was particularly useful when a miner wished to save a 'corner' of his pasty until later, or if he wanted to leave a corner for one of the 'Knockers'. The Knockers were the mischievous 'little people' of the mines, who were believed by the miners to cause all manner of misfortune, unless they were placated with a small amount of food, after which they could prove to be a source of good luck.
Today there is still a great deal of debate among pasty-makers about exactly how a genuine pasty should be made. Many will tell you that a pasty can only be made with short pastry, while others will advocate rough puff as the ideal pastry. Some will claim that the ingredients must be mixed up inside the pastry, while others will swear that the fillings should be laid out in a particular order before the pasty is sealed. The issue that invites the most controversy involves the famous 'crimp', the wavy seam that holds the whole pasty together. Should the pasty be sealed across the top, or at the side? History suggests that the crimp should be formed at the side, because the pasty has always been eaten by hand, and the side crimp is the most convenient way of holding onto your lunch while you take a big bite. Others may beg to differ! There are, fortunately, some facts that can be agreed upon by all pasty-makers. The meat should be chopped, the vegetables should always be sliced, and the ingredients must never be cooked before they are wrapped in the pastry. Each pasty must be baked completely from raw. It is this fact that makes the Cornish Pasty unique amongst similar foods from around the world.
more...
http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/history/pasty.htm
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