By Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking...

THE Cornish pasty is an absolute classic.

If you're ever in Cornwall, you won't be far from one – you'll probably smell it before you see it!

From humble origins, the pasty is now a celebrated meat and vegetable-filled pastry. For those who don't know, the pasty was a food of Cornish miners. The way it is folded over (with a thick edge of pastry on one side) meant that miners didn't have to put their tin-and-copper-arsenic-dust-covered hands in their mouths when eating, using the crimped side as a handle. It's a clever bit of pastry this, and it got even cleverer when you had savoury and sweet ends separated by a wall of pastry – meat and vegetables in one end and fruit or jam in the other.

Traditionally Cornish pasties have around 20 crimps, and the discarded crust was said to please the 'knockers' – the spirits that lived in mines.

Before the pasty police come out in force and criticise my ingredients or method, I think it's important to point out that I'm a Yorkshireman and not a Cornishman.

Making pasties is quite personal; only you know what proportions of vegetables and meat you like, how full you want your pasty to be and how big. Because of this, my recipe can only provide a guide, so feel free to change the proportions at will.

I've crimped thousands of Cornish pasties in my time, but try your best, it's worth the effort.

It's also said that some people just can't make good pastry because their hands are too hot or too cold. All I can say is that there is nothing wrong with either hot or cold hands. Some like baked beans with their pasty, I like it just as it is – tender juicy meat and succulent soft vegetables all surrounded by crisp, buttery pastry.

A homemade Cornish pasty straight from the oven is a wonderful thing; the smell that fills the house while it bakes makes the anticipation almost unbearable.

It's also true to say that a Cornishman should always try to find a wife with a good pastry thumb, I think it's the other way round in my circumstances.

* Please join me on March 3 at Laycock Village Hall where I will be supporting Airedale Hospital & Community Charity at our Ready Steady Bake fundraiser. Tickets can be purchased through airedalecharity.org or call 01535 294870. Let's give a little back to the NHS as a thank you!

RECIPE

CORNISH PASTY

Makes 4

Ingredients:

500g ready-made or homemade shortcrust pastry

1 x 392g large can of stewing steak

1 large potato, peeled, diced into small cubes

75g/3oz swede, cut, peeled and sliced into small cubes

1 small onion, peeled, sliced thinly

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Egg or milk to glaze

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ Gas Mark 6 and line a baking tin with baking paper.

2. Boil the vegetables with a pinch of salt till fork tender, drain and set aside to cool.

3. Roll out the pastry using a little flour so that you can fit 4 cereal bowl sizes around, use a tip of a sharp knife to cut around them.

4. Mix the stewing steak with the vegetables, season to taste and place a quarter of the mix into the middle of each round.

5. Egg wash around the filling, fold over to enclose and press to seal or turn upwards and crimp the top of the pasty.

6. Place onto the baking tray, brush with egg and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.