Jamaican Beef Patties with Slow Cooked Beef

This recipe makes delicious Jamaican beef patties with a buttery pastry and seasoned spicy beef filling. The beef for these patties is cooked over a longer period so the meat is soft and succulent. 

What is a Jamaican Patty?

Jamaican patties are basically spicy pies. The spice in them comes from the use of scotch bonnet peppers which is a chilli commonly used in Jamaican cuisine and also very hot. Jamaican patties can be made with many different fillings but the most common are beef, chicken, lamb salt fish and vegetables. The pastry is very yellow in colour but that’s not always the case. The yellow colour in commercial produced patties normally come from food colouring but when patties are made at home it is common to use turmeric or curry powder and sometimes both. 

The idea for the Jamaican Patty came from the Cornish pasty which is a meat pie that is popular here in the UK. The Cornish pasty is from a place called Cornwall which is a seaside county located in the South of England. In Jamaican cooking, lots of seasonings and spices are used in food so it was adapted bearing this in mind. The Cornish pasty though delicious doesn’t have much spice or seasoning in them so they are more suitable for those that love meat pies without spice. The Cornish pasty contains chopped beef steak rather than beef mince or ground beef. 

Growing up, I remember always having Jamaican beef patties at home. My mum regularly made them and though I ate them so much, I never got bored of them. I remember them being so flavoursome and filling. My mum never prepared them with lots of scotch bonnet chillies so they weren’t too spicy for me. As I grew up and adapted to spicy foods, I now enjoy making them with more scotch bonnet chillies for a spicier pie.

For my beef patties I love to slow cook the beef mince so the meat is soft and flavoursome so once the meat has browned, I add water and allow the beef to simmer for over an hour while I make the pastry.

If you love pies and spicy food then I’m sure you’ll love these Jamaican beef patties!

Ingredients for Jamaican Beef Patties

Please find the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Beef Filling

• Mince – also known as ground beef. I use 5% fat lean beef for this recipe.
• Onion – I use a brown onion.
• Garlic  – use fresh garlic cloves.
• Chillies – use scotch bonnet chillies.
• Ginger – use fresh root ginger
• Seasonings - salt, black pepper, thyme, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder.
• Tomato ketchup – you can use reduced salt ketchup.
• Soy sauce – I use reduced salt soy sauce.
• Beef stock cube – or ready made beef stock.
• Breadcrumbs - use fine white breadcrumbs.

Pastry Dough

• Flour – use a combination of plain flour and strong bread flour.
• Sugar - I use caster sugar to sweeten the pastry.
• Curry powder – to give the dough a yellow colour. I don’t use too much but if you want your dough very yellow you can use more.
• Turmeric – makes the dough yellow. I don’t use too much as it has a slightly bitter flavour.
• Salt – I use fine sea salt.
• Butter – the butter must be very cold. Cut the butter into cubes.
• Vegetable shortening – I use Trex.
• Water – the water needs to be ice cold.

Egg Wash

• Egg and milk - used to make the egg wash.

How to Make Jamaican Beef Patties

1. To a large heavy-duty saucepan, add the beef mince, chopped onion, chopped garlic, scotch bonnet and chopped ginger. Place the pan on a medium heat and cook until the meat is brown with no pink. As the meat is browning, break the meat up with a heat resistant spatula until all the meat is separated.

2. Mix in the salt, black pepper, dried thyme, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir in the tomato ketchup and soy sauce then add the water with the dissolved stock cube. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Keep a close eye on it to ensure it doesn't dry out quicker than the time and burn. If after 1 hour 30 minutes the water hasn’t completed dried out then increase the heat and allow to water to completely evaporate. Once the water has evaporated turn off the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs then aside to completely cool.

3. To make the pastry, you’ll need a large bowl. In the bowl, whisk together the plain, flour, bread flour, caster sugar, curry powder, turmeric and salt. Add in the chopped butter and chopped shortening then coat the pieces of fat with the flour. Press the pieces of fat flat then slowly start to add the iced cold water and using your hand or a spoon, start to bring the dough together. Keep adding water and mixing until a dough is formed. You can also do this in a stand mixer with a dough hook. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball then wrap them all with clingfilm. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 45 minutes. 

4. When your filling has cooled. You can assemble to patties. Firstly, mix together the ingredients for the egg wash and set aside. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/375^oF/190^oC/170^oC fan.

5. Flour a surface and remove 1 piece of the dough from the fridge. Roll it out to around ½ cm in thickness then using a bowl approximately 18cm/7inch press into the dough to shape a circle. Cut out the circle then place the circle onto a piece of parchment paper. Bring together the scraps and re-roll. Cut another circle and place on parchment paper. 

6. Remove another piece of dough from the fridge and repeat the process. Remember each piece of dough will make 2 patties so when you finish cutting the pastry, you should have 8 circles.  If your kitchen is warm then refrigerate the circles as you go along so the butter in the pastry doesn’t melt. 

7. Once you have cut the 8 circles, spread them out on a floured surface and distribute the beef equally between all the patties. Each will have around 2 tablespoons of meat. Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of each circle with the egg wash and fold the pastry over the meat to create a semi-circle. Gently press the edges together then crimp the edges with a fork. Brush the top of the patties with egg wash the use the fork and lightly pierce a set of holes in the top of each patty.

8. Place the number of patties you want to bake on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate any left to bake when ready. You can also freeze them. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 15 minutes then serve.

Recipe Tips

• If you don’t have time or simply would prefer not to make the pastry, you can buy ready made puff or shortcrust pastry instead.
• When making the pastry dough, it is imperative that all the ingredients remain cold to keep the pastry somewhat flaky. I usually chill my bowl and butter in the freezer before preparing. This is not essential but I find it helps to keep the ingredients cold.
• When making the pastry, I don’t break the butter down too fine. I keep the butter in larger pieces which gives a flakier pastry.
• I use a small quantity of strong bread flour in the pastry as it gives some strength to the pastry dough which makes the dough less likely to tear from the larger pieces of butter.
• If you don’t have bread flour then you can use 500g of just plain flour. Just be gentle when rolling out the pastry.
• To make the pastry circles, I use a wide mouth bowl around 18cm/7inches. If you don’t have a bowl that wide then cut around a side plate.

Nutrition

Nutrition based on 1 serving - Calories: 567kcal | Fat: 31.1g | Saturates: 15.0g | Carbs: 54.6g | Sugar: 9.0g | Fibre: 2.7g | Protein: 16.2g | Salt: 1.1g.

Storage

Store these patties in the fridge for up to 4 days. Unbaked patties can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days and freezer for around 3 months. If the patties are frozen then bake them for 5 minutes longer than instructed for fresh.

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