Cocktail Sized Jamaican Beef Patties
Introduction
I read that over 300,000 beef patties are prepared in Jamaica each day. This is for a good reason…they are delicious and will always reign as the most popular street food in Jamaica. I first fell in love with Jamaican beef patties when visiting my Uncle Roy who lived in Portmore located along the southeastern coast of Jamaica in the parish of St. Catherine. I was probably ten years old at the time and my Aunt Cavell would bring home a dozen large sized beef patties from Tastes. I instantly fell in love with the flakey outside that made a crunch when you bit into it only to wake your mouth up with the delicious and spicy filling. Growing up in New York, I instantly became a “patty snob” and I knew what constituted an authentic beef patty. Then it happened. Around 1986 our family found a burnt down building, literally a black hole in the middle of the street. It was in the heart of Brooklyn on Nostrand Avenue at the junction adjacent to Flatbush Avenue. My Mom had a vision to rent that black hole and me, along with my father and brothers, Andre, and Ricky, put up metal walls to cover all the fire damage in the dead of winter’s 15 degrees.
Our parents were the preverbal American dreamers. We named the place Angel Flakes Patties, a nod to the original patty shop my dad briefly worked at as a kid in Kingston. You see, our father, affectionately known as Chubby, came to America as an accountant and was quickly taught about the slow track he would be placed on due to racism in corporate America. He needed to be his own boss, so he took the idea from being an accountant of a shoe company and opened his own sneaker stores. We had multiple stores in Long Island and then we developed the idea to open a bakery in Brooklyn since there was a huge need at the time. We made Jamaican diners, sold pastries, drinks and most importantly, we made fresh beef patties in the store’s basement. Our patties were flaky and rich and the best in the city. I learned alot watching our cooks build patties from scratch. It was so authentic and rich; you would leave patty flakes everywhere and occasionally bite into a piece of fresh thyme and have to discard it from your mouth.
For beef patties to be authentic, it must have the right flakey texture with a tanginess to the crust, the meat filling must be full of spicy flavor with the consistency of a meat paste. I have taken all these experiences and now I am gifting it to the world. When you read through our recipe, remember, it will take time to master because although the proper ingredients are important, what is equally important is the method in which you prepare the crust and filling and that you make each patty with love. Good luck and congratulations on coming to the right place for the best most authentic and flaky beef patty recipe on the internet.
Crust Directions
Add salt, sugar, and coloring to the sifted flour
If needed, use a food processor to chop your beef suet into a smaller size
Add frozen beef suet to flour
Grate your frozen butter
Mix egg with your ice-cold water and vinegar
Add water mixture to flour (make sure your water stays cold)
Work the dough until it comes together adding a little water if needed – do not over work it since the objective is for the lard to remain frozen
Form it into a large ball
Set the ball in the refrigerator wrapped in saran (preferably overnight, but at least 2 hours
Roll the dough out onto a large surface using a generous amount of flour to avoid sticking.
Assembly
You can do this several ways, but I’ve found that the most efficient way is to create several patty skins with a cut out. The shape of your cutout will look like a rectangle with rounded edges. I’ve actually gone to Home Depot and purchased the pliable metal they use to hang pipes and cut and shaped it into the desired patty mold shape. If you make regular sized patties, this will yield around 12-14. If you are making cocktail sized patties, it will yield around 25.
Cut the patty molds out, stacking them up and keeping refrigerated as needed. Once you have all 25, place them on a flat surface and begin filling them.
Place a spoon full of meat leaving at least a quarter of an inch of crust free.
Fold over the meat
Either cut off excess with a ravioli cutter or use a fork to crimp the ends
Roll out excess crust and repeat until you don’t have enough crust to make one patty
Do not waist the excess crust. As you are forming your patties, roll the unused dough into a ball, fold over into another small rectangle and refrigerate.
Place the assembled patties on a buttered cookie sheet and refrigerate.
Take the excess dough that you placed in the refrigerator and repeat the process until you have all the patties prepared.
Variations (coming soon)
Curried Chicken Filling
Callaloo Filling
Goat Filling
Lobster Filling
Ingredients
Yields 25 Cocktail Sized Beef Patties
Meat
2 lbs. ground beef
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
10 green onion stalks
1 garlic clove
2 seeded scotch bonnet peppers (1 for each pound or meat)
1 Italian Loaf (24 inches)
6 cups of water
2 tbsp of all-purpose seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp allspice
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons browning sauce
1 medium onion
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 oz flavorless gelatin
Crust
2 ½ cups frozen beef suet
1 ¼ cup grated and frozen non salted butter
5 cups sifted unbleached flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons of curry powder
2 teaspoons of yellow coloring powder
1 egg
¾ cup ice cold water
1 tbsp white vinegar
6 tsp sugar
Meat Directions
Use a food processor to make your vegetable paste with scallions, onions, peppers, and thyme
Add that to your ground beef with all other ingredients
Cook your meat and veggie past on medium high heat until beef is fully shredded into fine pieces
Use the food processor to grind your bead load and add all 6 cups of water until it is the consistency of pancake mix
Add bread past to your meat
Add browning until you receive your desired color
Add beef bouillons and gelatin
You’re filling should be the consistency of a paste
If necessary, add to a food processor to get your meet filing the right texture
Allow to cool to room temperature or lower
Lamination
Remove the cold dough from the fridge and roll out into a large rectangle. You can fold the dough which helps to make a more precise rectangle.
Place a quarter of the frozen shredded butter in the center third of the rectangle.
Fold the bottom third of the rectangle over the middle third with the butter.
Place another quarter of the butter the bottom third of the dough.
Fold over the top third of the dough over the butter to complete a thick rectangle with several layers.
Roll out dough to make a rectangle like the one you started with.
Repeats steps until all the butter is finished.
Fold and roll the dough 2 or 3 more times to increase the layers and flakiness.
Be sure to move quickly enough to ensure your butter does not melt or become room temperature.
Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Baking
350 on a baking sheet for 30 minutes or until it is lightly brown
Allow to cool before serving
Video Instructions