Caribana week ahead: Beef Patties

So for the second day in my West Indian food week, I decided to make jamaican beef patties, the kind that were so popular when I grew up as a snack or quick meal, and remain so here now.I should note that patties have never been a personal favourite of mine, but I since they are so convenient, ubiquitous, and universally acceptable, since they keep well and store easily, and since pastry is kind of an adventure for me (continue reading for more on that) I decided they were definitely warranted.

I've never tried to make patties before, and I rarely make pastry either, mostly because I find it a little intimidating. It seems like so many details are important with pastry: ingredient varieties (margarine? butter? lard? and what the heck is shortening?), amounts and ratios (too sticky? too dry? add more... ummm....?), kitchen environment (not too hot, scads of space and dishes...), and how you have to work quickly (I'm a slow cook and I've started to own that about myself), etc... I always figure it can't possibly go right, and if it goes wrong, I won't have any idea why, or how to fix it. However, the thought of a convenient meal I could take with me to go pick up my Caribana costume while also feeding Nonsense back at home was tempting.

So. The first thing was to find a good, authentic, easy-to-follow recipe. I found several that looked okay, but I had no idea really, how to differentiate, aside from whether or not the posters sounded like they came from a WI background or more like they had once tasted a patty and wanted more.

Once I realized, upon perusing, that the distinctive yellow crust, which I always assumed was just horrible chemicals added to increase appeal, was achieved simply by adding a bit of perfectly acceptable turmeric to the pastry (ta-dah! How I didn't realize this before is kind of baffling, but anyway...), I decided my recipe had to include these. I chose to start outside of my usual recipe site and google some recipes, since Recipezaar (its former name) isn't always the best for authentic traditional foods and ingredients.

The first one I was going to make looked like it had it all, but then when I read the reviews, I realized that most of the 4 and 5 star reviews were from people who'd merely READ the recipe.... Now how is that helpful?! None of them had left any comments on how this actual recipe was to follow or how the resulting patties tasted. So I returned to my old stomping ground.

As fate would have it, I stumbled, almost by accident, on a recipe by a lady whose blog I also follow. This recipe was detailed enough for my experience level, contained what seemed to be all the essential ingredients, including a nice spice mix, and had great, helpful reviews telling how people liked the recipe as it was and any alterations they suggested, and adding input to fill in any information that I felt was missing from the recipe itself. I figured providence was taking my hand and saying, "Stop searching and start baking!" So I got to work!

First, I separated all my filling ingredients...

... from my pastry ingredients:

I kept the fat and water separate since they needed to stay cool in the fridge

I started the filling first, figuring that this would help me on the speed end for the pastry once it was ready. Softened the onions and garlic in some oil, browned the meat, and then added the spices:

Aren't they pretty?

Incorporated the broth and breadcrumbs, which quickly soaked up most of the liquid, then stirred in the green onions, and that was that! Easy peasy.

Next was the pastry. With the filling done and cooling off enough to reduce my worry about adding too much heat to the pastry to let it stay intact, I could focus completely on the intimidating work of pastry-making.

First I mixed the spices and flour together, then cut in the margarine and shortening until the mix was crumbly and scrumptious looking. Then I added the water to make it into a dough, mushing it with my hands and adding a bit more water until it held its form without too much crumbling. I made a log and cut it into 10 pieces (covering the bowl with the pieces with a damp towel to keep them cool and moist as I worked with one at a time), and rolled each piece out into a thin circle, which I filled with a spoon or two of filling, then sealed with a fork around the edges. I trimmed the edges and brushed the tops with beaten egg (which I almost forgot because the egg wasn't in the ingredient list!).

I baked the patties in two batches, at 375F for 25 minutes each. They came out nice and shiny and golden and pretty.

Here's Nonsense enjoying the first one. He gave it his compliments!

And here's the packet I took with me on the bus to pick up my costume -- so convenient!

And just for kicks, here's me in my get-up -- very excited for the weekend!

As for specifics on how the patties turned out, I should note that I cut three quarters of the salt out of the filling, on the advice of most of the recipe reviews. However, I also used a lower sodium beef broth, and I definitely think that this cut too much salt out of the recipe. The patties are flavourful, but lack a certain savoury punch. I think if I make them again, since I generally buy low-sodium broth, I might cut just a quarter or half the salt and see how that turns out. As for the pastry, to my gratification, it was lovely! Flaky, crusty, yellow and yummy. No sogginess so far either. Turns out I can do this... so the only intimidation pastry need cause me now is because of the mess!