Still Way Out West

Well the holiday plans are definitely taking a turn towards the South West so, thoughts still facing that way, it was time to try a home made Cornish Pasty.  Unlike the saffron buns, I have enjoyed many a pasty in Cornwall, many handmade and all heaven.  Goodness knows I can even enjoy a microwaved Ginsters on occasion!  Yes, I think I can say I love a pasty in almost any form.

These home efforts are not, technically,  real Cornish Pasties as apparently they have to be assembled in Cornwall to claim that name, but this is the closest I can get in South Yorkshire.

All the traditional ingredients are here - a puffish pastry with vegetable shortening as well as butter (should probably be lard but I didn't have any in), swede, potato, beef skirt and some onion - recipe courtesy of the Great British Book of Baking again.  I have never made these from scratch before and was not all convinced that all of those ingredients could possibly be cooked in the time it take to cook the pastry.  Some kind of magic happens though and what came out of the oven looked like the real deal and smelt fabulous.

They also tasted pretty good.  If improvements are to be made, I would put a bit more beef in next time and quite a bit more salt and pepper - the taste was not as bold as I would have liked.  I think my crimping could also do with some finesse but it got more handsome as it cooked so ended up looking decent.