The humble pasty was traditionally baked by miners' wives and taken into the mines as a fast and hearty snack. The crimped border was not eaten, but actually served as a "handle" for the miners to hold whilst eating the pasty. This avoided any poisonous substances on the hands from being ingested. The crimped "handle" was then discarded.
The lecturer spent about half an hour educating us on Cornwall's history - in order to illustrate the dire financial situation of Cornwall's population since the closing of the mines. So basically, telling us the history of Cornish Pasties was a strange and elaborate segue into the lecture topic - cost-effective aesthetic dental treatment.
Let me first confess to you that I did an awful job of making these for the first time!
CORNISH PASTIES
Into a bowl grate 1/2 block cold butter over 250g plain flour and a pinch of salt.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips, until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Add ice cold water, a tablespoon at a time until a smooth ball can be formed.
Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Cut your dough into quarters and roll into "circles" (mine were more like blobs)
Place your filling in the centre. My filling included diced chuck steak, onion, potato and turnip.
Brush the pastry around the filling with 1 beaten egg.
Fold in half to form a semi-circle and crimp the edges.
As you can see I went from abysmal to bad.
Perhaps making another 300 will perfect my crimping.
Cause you know what they say - crimpin' ain't easy.
Brush with the remaining beaten egg then bake at 180 C for 15 minutes.
Lower the oven to 160 C and bake for another 45 minutes.
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