My mother made brilliant Cornish pasties. She pleated them up so efficiently, she didn't know how to slow down what she was doing so that I could learn the skill.
This is the quantity for 10 pasties. The pastry is cut around a large dinner plate which makes one pastie.
The pastry is rolled thinly. Wet finger and then draw up sides around as much stuffing as can be fitted into the mound of filling. The wetted pastry then is stuck together and the pleating action begins. Within seconds, there is a magnificent pastie, so large it may be an evening meal and the remaining 1/3rd taken to school the following day for lunch (equally great hot or cold, and we ate them cold for lunch the next day.) No filling fell out. That was because of vast pastie making experience as my mum made them and sold them for the local church and sometimes they covered our kitchen, every bench, table, whatever. She covered them with her thinnest of tea towels, and left them waiting to cool and for us to come home and eat them. Serve with tom.sauce. Nothing else.
All the meat and vegetables were put through a hand turned mincer affixed to the kitchen bench. The output was caught in a large plastic dish, used only for this purpose.
Shortcrust Pastry was home made - can't find the recipe for that.
Never, ever forget the Swede Turnip. They make the distinctive flavour and perfume when cooling out of the oven.
