isithalal.food · Recipes

Cornish pasties with Halal beef

Crimped Cornish pasties filled with Halal beef skirt, potato, swede and onion in a butter and rapeseed oil pastry, with the Worcestershire sauce checked.

British · Main · Moderate · 6 pasties · 80 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

A Cornish pasty's beef is only Halal from Halal-slaughtered cattle, pastry fat varies between bakers, and the Worcestershire sauce in BBC Good Food's filling is a bottle to check.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Beef skirt: Beef is Halal only from Halal slaughter, and in a pasty it goes in raw and cooks inside. Buy skirt from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. See Beef and Cornish pasty.
• Worcestershire sauce: Most scholars accept the anchovies and vinegar in a bought Worcestershire sauce, but the natural flavourings are not explained on the label, and recipes differ between countries. Read the bottle you are holding, or buy one with a Halal mark. See Worcestershire sauce.
• Pastry fat: Pastry fat decides whether a bought pasty is Halal, and lard is pork fat. This pastry uses butter and rapeseed oil. When buying pasties, ask which fat is in the pastry. See Lard.

Ingredients

Filling

• 400 g (14 oz) Halal beef skirt, excess fat trimmed, cut into small chunks
• 140 g (5 oz) potato, diced
• 140 g (5 oz) swede, diced
• 100 g (4 oz) onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp (3 tbsp) parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce, from a bottle you have checked
• ¾ tsp (¾ tsp) black pepper

Pastry

• 350 g (2¾ cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1¼ tsp (1¼ tsp) baking powder
• 85 g (6 tbsp) cold butter, in small pieces
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) extra virgin rapeseed oil
• 1 (1) large egg, separated
• 5–6 tbsp (5–6 tbsp) cold water

Method

1. Mix the filling. Mix the beef, potato, swede, onion, parsley and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl with the pepper and 1 tbsp cold water, and stir in a pinch of salt. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6) and line one or two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Make the pastry. Pulse the flour, baking powder and butter in a food processor until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the oil, egg yolk and 5 tbsp cold water and pulse until the dough just comes together, adding a little more water if needed. Press it into a smooth ball.
3. Shape the pasties. Cut the pastry into six. Roll each piece on a lightly floured surface as thinly as you can into a circle just over 20 cm across and trim it round a 20 cm tin base. Spoon a sixth of the filling down the middle, dampen the edges, bring one side over to meet the other and press to seal, then roll or curl the edge over all the way round. Set on the tray, pierce a small steam hole in each and brush with beaten egg white.
4. Bake. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas 4), brush with more egg white and bake for 35 minutes more until crisp and golden, covering loosely with foil if they brown too fast. Cool slightly on a rack and serve warm or cold.

Allergens

gluten (flour), milk (butter), egg, fish (anchovies in Worcestershire sauce)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lighter Cornish pasties' (raw beef skirt, potato, swede, onion, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and water mixed as the filling; a pastry of plain flour, baking powder, butter, rapeseed oil, egg yolk and water rolled thin to 20 cm rounds; filled, folded, crimped, glazed with egg white and baked 15 minutes at 200°C then 35 minutes at 180°C). We specified Halal beef skirt and a Worcestershire sauce you have checked; its pastry already uses butter and oil, not lard. Prep time is our estimate, because the source lists 1 minute. Other timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a Cornish pasty, not the finished dish.