FriendlyManitoba

I know the internet is loaded with some fine British recipes, but I had an epic fail with my last pasty attempt and I'm a fairly decent and patient cook. I know I am not allowed to call them the 'C' word, due to their protected status They were a tad dry inside and, having myself to blame, my pastry was so-so. I'd like to keep trying to make a killer pasty!

If anyone has a great pasty recipe that has survived positively and you don't mind sharing, I would be so happy and forever grateful. I have mastered yorkshire pudding, I must say.

I may attempt Ramsay's Shepherd Pie this week and his cottage pie with Guinness looks delicious! Jamie's Sausage rolls look delectable. That almost sounded dirty .

Hams, jam tarts, lashings of gingerbeer, cakes, jugs of cream, sardines, tomatoes, thick slices of bread, scones, sausages, kippers.... I have Enid Blyton to thank for my British food appreciation. I would love to have some great British dishes in my collection that are your family favourites if you're willing to share any.

curleytops

Have you seen the Hairy Bikers? Check BBC Canada they may be on there now but here's a link to their recipes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/hairy_bikers

They've got a pasty recipe in there.

I've also found some interesting recipes from this fellow:

http://www.davidhall.co.uk/2007/11/i...-here-man.html

I've made his stotty cake many times (a sacred Geordie favorite) but he's got loads more interesting recipes.

This site's also got a lot of the old traditional favorites:

http://www.be-ro.com/index.asp

The "Be-Ro Book" was something of a bible in many British households over the years. My Mother brought hers from England when we emigrated to Canada in 1966 and it sits in my Dad's kitchen cupboard today albeit tattered and torn. The hard copy book doesn't appear to be available at the moment but they've got lots of the recipes on the website. I especially liked the Rock Buns when I was a kid.

Siouxie

You might like this website - great British recipe's

http://greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipebook/index.php

They have a Cornish Pastie recipe

For an official recipe see: http://www.cornishpastyassociation.c...ges/recipe.pdf Originally this would have been made using 50% lard rather than all margarine.

Greenhill

I can share a beef and veg balti recipe (if I can remember exactly how I made it the other day).

Now that was British food at its best

FriendlyManitoba

Curly, Siouxie and Greenhill, you are all the best! You have no idea how obsessed I am with attempting to make genuine British food. I guess 'genuine' is not quite genuine here in Canada. I think you know what I mean.

I checked into the Hairy Bikers, but eventually became so confounded with the proper C***ISH pasty, that I felt lost. I will check those hairy guys out again - they are quite funny! I do believe I also checked into the Cornish pasty association website as well. Thanks much for the reminder. I am having problems with having the dough at a stretchy condition with the correct tension. I do believe I'm getting a good knack with the pasty side crimp technique.

There are many British granny's (some very, very funny) on youtube.com flashing their skills in pasty making, and they make it look so easy. I have enjoyed some of those clips!

Does anyone know if our cake flours differ somewhat in composition?
And what is a veg and balti, if I dare ask?

PS: Rock buns I have accidently made, although over here, I call them hockey pucks as mine were inedible and could be subbed as a puck or a rock. I would like to know truly, what rock buns are. Google, here I come!

Siouxie

You need to use strong bread flour and definitely not cake flour, which does not have the elasticity required for pasties. You should also let the pastry rest for 2-3 hours prior to rolling it out. http://www.robinhood.ca/product-deta...cid=44&pid=189 anything like this will work, or go to Bulk Barn and get their generic brand, http://www.bulkbarn.ca/en-ca/products.html?product=542

Veg= Vegetable
Balti = Balti Curry - http://britishfood.about.com/od/adre...balticurry.htm

Greenhill

I like the look of that recipe, might try it next time

I know I forgot to put in the mustard, didn't have any coriander and didn't want to add cinnamon. Otherwise, I used half a habanero, fried with chopped onion and lots of sliced striploin, I added a couple of pureed onions, a couple of pureed carrots and a puree of garlic, ginger and some curry powder & cumin and a can of chopped tomatoes.

I made some garlic mushrooms (just stew them on a low heat for 20mins with butter and lots of garlic), poured that in to the balti with some stir fry vegetables (from a branded bag) and a couple of spoons of organic plain yoghurt plus whatever garam masala we had left in the bag.

5-10 mins of frying then about 20-30 mins of low heat stewing.

The spice-heat balance between "manly" and "girly" is on a sliding scale of how long you dare leave the habanero in to how much yoghurt is added.

Anyway, it's a dish of exquisite depth of texture and flavour. Unfortunately it might look like it looks when it reappears in the toilet the next morning but it's British food at its best.

FriendlyManitoba

This sounds like such a terrific recipe, Greenhill! I must say, I like the manly/girly spicy balance. It sounds simply delicious! I should check to see if I can get these ingredients in our small City. I am definitely going to attempt this.

May I ask another question of you all? When skirt steak is called for, I used sirloin in my Pasty fail (didn't wish nor had on hand 'mince' or our ground beef at the time, and I just happened to have the sirloin on hand). I'm thinking the meat just did not have the fat the Pasty requires. It wasn't top sirloin, but had some wee fat to the meat. We ate them with, sorry and heaven forbid, beef gravy, to combat the dryness. I am so ashamed to admit this!

Am I correct in saying that 'skirt steak' is similar to Canadian stewing beef?
I do use stewing beef in my Irish Beef Guinness Stew. I just wasn't sure what skirt steak was. (Again...google will be my best friend).

I thank you all for putting up with my insipid questions!

Siouxie

Skirt steak in Canada is called 'plate' steak, there is inner and outer plate. Skirt Steak is a boneless cut of beef from the lower part of the brisket. Cut from the beef flank, the skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle (which lies between the abdomen and chest cavity). It's a long, flat piece of meat that's very flavourful.

Pasties are traditionally made with small cubes of skirt steak (plate) as it creates it's own gravy as it is cooking. Ground beef wouldn't really work.

http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/ab_cowc.html and http://www.canadabeef.ca/ca/en/beef_...s/portion.aspx

Piff Poff

http://www.be-ro.com/

Have a look on here for some good recipes, including rock buns, which are really yummy.

Also if you didn't know, coriander is cilantro here if your looking for it lol

Geordie Lass

I don't know about you us but baking here.... Must be the altitude or something but recipes from Britain just don't work... Cakes come out like pancakes the only think I have found that helps is whacking the temp up much higher than it suggests and cooking for longer?

Not related to baking but back in the UK I used to often make scrambled eggs in the microwave. I did it here... Don't try it they explode... Literally - it was like a gunshot in the kitchen and was all over the microwave! I have no idea why... Can I blame altitude for this too?

Siouxie

High altitude baking is different lol - you have to adjust everything to accommodate it. You can read a good article here: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesgu...altitudebaking and http://allrecipes.com/howto/high-altitude-cake-baking

Regarding scrambling eggs in the microwave, at high altitude water evaporates quicker so perhaps reducing the cooking time and using a lower power will work for you.

General High Altitude cooking: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/...y/index.asp#10

Piff Poff

I blame so many things on the high altitude - it's a really good excuse

curleytops

My Mam went through the same thing when we first went to Canada but with a bit trial and error she had us looking forward to baking day once again before too long.

The most widely used flour by far in Canada is what we know as "plain flour" to which baking powder has to be added so you don't end up with pancakes instead of cakes. Rule of thumb would be about 1 tsp baking powder per cup (110g) flour added at the same time as the other dry ingredients. This could account for the flat cakes. You can find self-raising flour over there (Superstore's likely your best bet) if you want that.

As for cooking temps. don't forget the temp. gauge on Canadian ovens is generally set to deg. F not C. Since I grew up there I was used to Fahrenheit so I keep a little conversion chart to Celsius with my cookbooks over here. Also, I've noticed there are a lot more fan (convection) ovens here so if you're used to that and are using a conventional oven (they need more time)there you'll see a difference in cooking time (trial & error's probably your best bet).

Re the scrambled eggs - When I lived in Canada I never used anything BUT the microwave for mine but I tended to cook them on 80% power (1000 watt oven) for about 4 minutes (2 eggs & desired amt. of milk) taking them out to stir about half way through - no explosions. On the subject of eggs, you can do a "poached" egg in the micro in a greased cup (corelle works well) - just pierce the yoke with a toothpick first to prevent explosions and keep an eye on it.

Hope this helps, forgive me if I've stated anything obvious but most importantly, don't give up - you'll get the kinks worked out in no time.

Geordie Lass

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I think part of the problem for me is I am used to a fan assisted brand new oven that worked like a dream. In the house I am in now it has a big swirly element thing in the bottom and it looks at least 10 years old!

I will try again with eggs for lunch... I might push the boat out and try poached!

I am loving the cake mixes here tho - and the cookies etc. It couldn't be easier really could it?