Traditional Cornish Pasty Recipe

The iconic food symbol of Cornwall, it doesn’t get more Cornish than tucking into a piping hot pasty. Come rain or shine, this delicacy is best served alongside a sea view and devoured in front of eagle-eyed seagulls.

When it comes down to the traditional Cornish pasty recipe, everyone has their own opinions on what is deemed ‘proper Cornish’, particularly with regards to the type of pastry used. My recipe descends from the pasties my lovely mum makes, so it’s shortcrust pastry for me, but feel free to experiment with your own favourites.

For the filling, traditionally the Cornish pasty includes four staple ingredients; swede, potato, onion and steak. However, if you’ve been to a pasty shop in Cornwall before you’ll know the variety of flavours are endless, so feel free to mix it up!

Ingredients

For shortcrust pastry:

• 500g strong bread flour
• 120g lard or white shortening
• 125g Cornish salted butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 175ml cold water

For pasty filling:

• Potatoes
• Swede
• Brown onions
• Skirt beef (diced beef works too)
• Salt and pepper

Method

Part One | Make the pastry

• Rub the lard and the Cornish butter lightly into the flour and salt until you have a breadcrumb consistency.
• Dust your work surface with flour, add the water to the breadcrumb mixture and knead the pastry until it has an elastic, strong feel. The kneading is the most important part as it will ensure your pastry can hold the fillings you add later.
• Once you’ve made your pastry, cover with cling film and cool in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours.

Part Two | Add the filling, crimp and bake

• Peel the potatoes and swede and chop up into smallish chunks, dice the onion and cut up the beef into bite-size pieces.
• Dust your work surface and roll out your pastry dough into a circular shape until it is about 5mm thick.
• Layer your ingredients in the middle of your circle of dough, making sure not to overfill your pasty.
• Add a generous helping of pepper and salt to taste.

• Fold over the dough and crimp your pasty, taking care not to tear your pastry or stretch it too thin. This is probably the most challenging part of the pasty-making process and I am by no means an expert crimper – as you can probably tell!
• Add three slits to the top of your pasty, then bake in the oven for around 45 minutes – 1 hour gas mark 5/180°C/160°C fan. Depending on the size of your pasties it can take longer, so I would advise you keep a close eye on them once they’re in the oven.
• Once the crust is golden and the pasties are piping hot inside, remove from the oven, leave to cool for 15 minutes and then tuck in!

If you’ve given my traditional Cornish pasty recipe a go, don’t forget to let me know how they turned out in the comments below!

Click here for my top picnic spots to enjoy your pasty on the west coast of Cornwall.