You can still make yer own.
Under the new legislation I'd better call these 'YellowBelly pasties'
Case:
150g lard
100g beef suet, finely grated
450g strong plain flour, perhaps a touch more
30ml cold beer (Batemans?)
rosemary leaves, chopped
chive leaves, chopped
Filling:
400g beef skirt
medium onion
half a swede
600g main-crop potatoes
small garlic clove
1 egg whisked with splash of milk
Butter
fresh lime
salt, black pepper, dried ginger
Dice the vegetables into bits about 4mm cubed. Crush the garlic and mix in. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cut the meat into similar size bits
Sift flour,salt,ginger into a mixing bowl.
dust the meat in the flour and remove.
Finely chop the lard and mix roughly into the flour. Add the suet, and work into a pastry with the beer. Work in the chives and rosemary. if too wet, add a little more flour
Divide into 6 pieces and roll each out into a circle, on a floury board. You can scrub the beer bottle to use as a rolling pin.
Put a layer of onion and swede bits onto one side of each circle. Then a layer of the meat, then a layer of potato. put a few tiny knobs of butter around the top. squeeze a little lime juice over each one.
brush some beer glue round the edge, fold the top over and crimp it down. Use a fork or something to make a pattern. I use my wedding ring.
make a tiny hole in the top for the worst of the steam to escape - not too big as you want to steam the veggies, this is just a pressure relief valve.
Glaze the outside with egg/milk. If you want a pattern, score the pastry surface slightly.
Put on a greased tray and put in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at gas 6/200C then reduce to gas 2 for about 40 mins. Fan ovens should have a small bowl of water and the pastry covered until the last 15 mins.
Variations:
Paprika or Nutmeg instead of ginger.
Oysters in the beef.
Venison. Omit the garlic, marinade in red wine & olive oil. Dry off before dusting with flour
Biting the hand that feeds IT
