Game pasty recipe

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The theory was that you should be able to drop a proper Cornish pasty down a 100ft mine shaft and it should stay intact upon impact.

By Mike Robinson of The Field

Monday, 01 October 2007

Here we reveal a game food recipe worth putting your gun down for.

Seeing as the magic month of October is now here, I thought it might be fun to look at an idea for shoot-day eating.

This recipe is for the small shoot where shooting through and eating off the back of the Land Rover is the order of the day.

I think that for this situation, only meat and pastry will do. To this end I am proposing that we munch on some delicious home-made pasties.

In deference to the game season we are making these with a mixture of game meats, but you can just as easily use beef or lamb.

Let us consider the pasty for a minute: this humble Epicurean delight was invented (apparently) by the wives of Cornish tin miners as a way of protecting the meat and veg inside.

The theory was that you should be able to drop a proper Cornish pasty down a 100ft mine shaft and it should stay intact upon impact.

There is something about the way the meat and vegetables steam inside their pastry case that gives a well-made pasty a totally irresistible aroma.

Game pasties
Serves 12

- 1 large onion

- 1 butternut squash

- 3 large potatoes

-1 litre (1¾ pints) chicken or beef stock

- 2kg (4½lb) mixed meat (I use rabbit, venison and beef), finely diced

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2 sprigs fresh thyme

- Salt and pepper for seasoning

- Enough puff pastry to make twelve 10in circles

- An egg for the wash

Dice the onion, squash and potatoes about 1cm in size and simmer them in the stock for 10 minutes just to soften things up a bit. Remove them from the liquid and mix in a bowl with the meat, chopped garlic and thyme.

Season really well.

Now spoon a good amount into the middle of each pastry circle and eggwash the edges. Bring the sides up to create the classic pasty shape, then try to figure out how to get a really good crimp going (making this regular is one of the hardest culinary challenges I know).

Once the pasty is well crimped, eggwash it again for luck, then bake on a parchment sheet in a 400ºF/200ºC/Gas Mark 6 oven for 20 to 25 minutes (until really golden).

Pop the pasties in a hamper and rush them by Land Rover to your guns.