I grew up eating Jamaican beef patties. In NYC, Caribbean bakeries and restaurants are everywhere. In Georgia, however, there are definitely fewer Caribbean bakeries to choose from and depending on where you live, you might be in for a 30-minute drive to get to the nearest one. So, I decided to teach myself how to make beef patties at home so that no matter where I am, I can always have a taste of one of my favorite childhood meals.
Before we get started, I want to give you a few lessons learned while I was creating this recipe:
- Do NOT handle the tumeric with your bare hands. Use a Kitchenaid mixer or be sure to wear food safe gloves. I did not do this during my initial run and my nice, nude nails were an interesting shade of tumeric gold for an entire two days.
- Use a wooden or marble rolling pin. I used my silicone rolling pin during my initial run and it just was not heavy enough to roll out the dough to the desired thinness.
- Be very, very careful when working with scotch bonnet peppers. Now, to be honest, I learned this lesson about twenty years ago, but it is so important that it is worth repeating. The oil released when cutting scotch bonnet peppers will get onto your hands and into your skin. Do NOT rub your eyes or touch your lips without thoroughly washing your hands after handling the peppers. I like to rub a bit of fresh lemon on my hands before rinsing off the pepper oil. I find that it helps with thoroughly removing the oil.
Now, with all of that said, let’s get cooking.
Servings: 6 · Prep time: 90 min · Cook time: 18-20 · Ready in: 110 min · Skill level: Intermediate
Ingredients
- 1 stick of Kerrygold unsalted butter (chilled)
- 3 cups of King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons of tumeric
- 6 beef bullion cubes
- 2/3 cup of water
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 small onion
- 5 scallion stalks
- 3 scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 teaspoon of canola oil
- 1lb of ground beef
- 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons of thyme
- 2 tablespoons of Heinz ketchup
Method
Cut the stick of butter into cubes. Pour the flour into the Kitchenaid mixing bowl and add in the cubes of butter. Using your hands, smash the butter into the flour until the flour looks like pie crumble.
Unlock the Kitchenaid head and raise it into the air, add the tumeric, sugar, and one tablespoon of salt into the flour. Using a rolling pin, smash 4 of the beef buillion cubes into a powder and add the beef buillion powder into the flour. Give the flour mixture a few stirs using a large spoon.
Attach the dough grabber attachment to the Kitchenaid, lower the Kitchenaid head and lock it. Put the Kitchenaid mixer on speed level 2 and slowly begin to pour in the water.
Allow the Kitchenaid to run for about 4-5 minutes or until the bowl is clean and you are left with one large clump of dough. Then, unlock the Kitchenaid, remove the dough grabber attachment and wash the attachment immediately so that the tumeric does not stain it.
Cut the dough in half, form into two round balls, wrap each ball of dough separately in saran wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. While the dough is in the refrigerator, move on to making the beef filling.
Chop the onion, slice the scallion, and mince the garlic and scotch bonnet peppers, and set them aside.
In a large skillet, bring 1 teaspoon of canola oil to a medium heat. Add in the onion, scallion,garlic and scotch bonnet peppers. Saute until the onions are translucent. This should take about 3 minutes.
Add the ground beef to the skillet and mash it with a fork so that the beef separates. Brown the beef for about 5 minutes.
While the beef is browning, smash the remaining beef bullion cubes with the rolling pin. Add the beef bullion powder into the skillet. Stir in the paprika, black pepper, salt, thyme, and all spice and allow the beef to cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Stir in the ketchup and then turn the beef down to a low simmer. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, liberally flour the countertop area and remove the dough from the refrigerator.
Roll out each ball of dough and cut out 7-inch diameter circles. Fill half of the circle, vertically, with beef filling. Be sure to leave a thin perimeter around the edge for proper sealing.
Fold the other half of the dough over the meat so that you now have a semi-circle. Using a fork, press down on the edges to seal the patty. Repeat steps 11 and 12 until you have used all of the beef.
Line a cookie sheet with foil paper. Place the patties onto the sheet and put the sheet into the oven for 18-20 minutes. Be sure to place the sheet onto the lower rack so that the edges of the patties do not burn.
Once the patties are nice and golden, remove them from the oven, plate and enjoy.
