Homemade Jamaican Beef Patty

October 21, 2022

50 min Cook

Instructions

Add in the chopped onions, minced garlic, scotch bonnet, paprika, thyme and all spice and stir till well combined.

Once onions begin to wilt and change colour add lean ground beef. There is no need to drain the beef.

Sautee until cooked and break up into crumbled pieces with the back of spoon.

Add your soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of ketchup and mix well. Taste and season with salt and add more ketchup if necessary (1 tablespoon more to taste).

Set stove to medium-low setting and add 1-2 cups of water. Cook and simmer meat for approximately 20–30 minutes. Start with 1 cup and add more as necessary, you don’t want a dry meat, the filling should be moist.

Add in the breadcrumbs and stir to combine mixture. Again just make sure there is enough liquid to absorb the breadcrumb. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Add in the butter and combine. Once butter is mixed in, remove beef from heat and set aside.

The filling should not be dry but should be quite moist.

Put in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to room temp. You can place in fridge as you make crust.

How to prepare beef patty pastry dough:

In a mixing bowl with a hook, attachment add the all purpose flour, salt, turmeric powder, suet and shortening and mix on low speed until a crumble texture is developed. If using butter (instead or beef suet + shortening) add that instead. The mixture should look like breadcrumb consistency. Another method is to free shortening + suet or butter, and grate into flour mixture and mix by hand with whisk until bread crumb consistency is achieved. A food processor will also work to get bread crumb consistency by combining all ingredients and pulsing 6-8 times.

Add in the ice-cold water and mix until the ingredients are well combined and the pastry dough slightly developed.

Removed dough from mixing machine and wrap in plastic, place into refrigerator for 30 minutes.

How to assemble Jamaican beef patty:

Preheat the oven to 365°F( 185°C)

Remove dough from refrigerator and divide it into 12 equal parts for large patties or 20 equal parts for small patties. I prefer larger-sized patties. Use a pastry cutter or knife to assist you.

Roll each dough piece into a ball and flatten using a rolling pin.

For large pieces fill each pastry disc with two to 3 tablespoons of filling around the center of the pastry dough. For smaller patties fill dough with 1 – 1/2 tablespoons of meat filling.

Chilling the meat filling completely in the fridge makes filling the pies a lot easier as the filling sets a bit.

Over lap the pastry dough to resemble a half moon crescent and pinch the outer end with a fork to seal the patties closed. You can use the edge of a knife to smoother out the edge of the patty purely for aesthetic reason. no need to cut off excess dough, just press edge into perfect semi circle.

Place the patties onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and and bake in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes or until beef patty is light golden browned. if making smaller patties you may need less time.

Eat immediately or patties freeze very well and can be reheated in oven.