Sunday, August 11, 2019

Jamaican beef patties: the experiment

Like Cornish pasties, Jamaican beef patties normally use a dough that's sturdier than your typical apple-pie dough. I was lazy, though, and decided simply to add turmeric (and some bacon fat) to the standard pie dough. That was easy enough, and then all I had to do was add the beef filling, which was basically taco-style ground beef, but with jerk spices and seasonings. I need to improve my crust-wrapping game (I have no consistency), but the patties came out looking more or less recognizable. For comparison's sake, here's what a typical, machine-made Jamaican beef patty from 7-Eleven looks like. Enjoy the following images.

Half the dough was enough to make three large and two small patties:


Here's the best-shaped one of the bunch:


Here's a smaller patty, broken open:


They seem more golden-brown than yellow in the photos; maybe it's a trick of the lighting. They're supposed to look yellow thanks to the turmeric in the dough, which also makes the patties taste way better than they should.

Next—the better-shaped of the two small patties:


What they look like when you bite their heads off:


A final glimpse of the innards of the cooled-down, best-looking patty of the batch (I had to reheat this patty in the microwave before I ate it):


Not horrible for a first attempt, but there's definitely room for improvement. The patties all tasted good, though, and the pockets' crust was pleasantly flaky; I also liked the addition of allspice and cinnamon to the mix, but next time around, I'm going to cut way down on the sugar and ketchup. The filling was a bit too sweet for my taste.



4 comments:

Charles said...

That crust looks deliciously flaky. Did you make the dough yourself?

Kevin Kim said...

I did, indeed. There are several "no-fail" pie-crust recipes on YouTube, designed specifically for food processors.

My pie-crust saga started in late July, right around the time you were finishing up in Europe, I think, so you probably missed those posts. Here they are below:

1. pot pie: the dry run

2. aesthetic improvement

3. pot pie: the peek inside

My first pie crust was ugly as fuck, but as you'll see, my second attempt was way nicer-looking. As for the pie dough itself: it's pretty much idiot-proof, although, as you'll read, I did manage to screw something up during my very first attempt at making the dough.

Charles said...

Nice! I will have to go back and read those posts when I get the chance.

I've been thinking about doing a little pie action myself lately, but it's so freaking hot to be baking....

Kevin Kim said...

The ancient legends speak of a dark magick called "air conditioning"...