October 27, 2019

Easy Authentic Flaky Jamaican Beef Patty Recipe

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Jamaica’s ubiquitous sunshine meat patty, here is the real deal easy authentic flaky Jamaican beef patty recipe that is Jamaica’s quintessential fast food. This authentic Jamaican beef patty recipe is easy to make and is filled with a flavorful and addictive meat filling.

Also know as the Jamaica’s sunshine patty, the patties pastry crust is distinctively yellow which make it one the the most recognized ethnic foods around the world.

What is a Jamaican beef patty made of?

Jamaican beef patties are made with a rich flaky yellow pastry dough filled with seasoned ground beef. The pastry dough is made with flour, butter or shortening and beef suet and salt. The pastry gets it’s color from turmeric powder. You can also use curry or annatto to color and flavor the dough. The ground beef filling is seasoned with red or yellow onion, minced garlic, curry, escallion (scallion), seeded Scotch bonnet pepper ( hot peppers) or sweet peppers, bread crumbs, dried or fresh thyme, paprika, black pepper and a hint of allspice.

What is beef suet?

Beef suet is raw fat that surrounds the joints and kidneys of the cow. It has a low melting point around 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F). which make it perfect for cooking, deep frying or adding it to make pastry dough. The beef suet’s congelation is around 40 °C ( 104 °F).

What can you substitute beef suet with?

You can simply substitute beef suet with lard or vegetable shortening at a 1-1 ratio. Suet, lard and shortening have similar melting point which makes them perfect substitutes but the flavor will be slightly different. You can also substitute the suet and shortening with butter or margarine.

In some recipes, substituting suet for shortening with require you to freeze the shortening first then shred it to small pieces so it cam simulate the suet.

This is mainly used to make pastry dough with leads to a flakier pastry crust.

Jamaican Patty filled with Ground Beef Recipe

Why Is The Jamaican Beef Patty Dough Yellow?

Authentic Jamaican beef patty dough is distinctively yellow due to the high amount of turmeric added to the dough. If the patty color is not important, then you can scale back the turmeric spice to half, this will offset some of the bitterness from the turmeric in the pastry dough.

What Can You Substitute Turmeric Spice With For The Patty Dough?

The most common substitute for the turmeric spice is curry powder. You can substitute one to one to achieve the same color profile for the patties flaky pastry dough but keep in mind that the flavor will change.

Ingredients for the beef patty pastry dough using beef suet:

450 grams all purpose flour ( 3 1/2 cups)
4 grams salt ( 1 teaspoon)

13 grams granulated sugar ( 1 tablespoon)
100 grams beef suet ( 1/2 cup) chopped into pea size pieces and frozen
100 grams shortening ( 1/2 cup)

15 grams turmeric powder (1 tablespoon)
230 grams ice cold water

Ingredients for beef patty pastry dough using butter:

450 grams all purpose flour ( 3 1/2 cups)
4 grams salt ( 1 teaspoon)

13 grams granulated sugar ( 1 tablespoon)
220 grams unsalted butter ( 1 cup) or ( 2 butter sticks)
15 grams turmeric powder ( 1 tablespoon)

230 grams ice cold water

Ingredients to make the beef patties meat filling:

450 grams lean ground beef (1 lb)
1 large size yellow or red onion finely chopped
60 grams fresh escallion ( scallions) 3 stalks finely chopped

25 grams Scotch bonnet pepper ( 1 pepper) or use any hot pepper
50 grams breadcrumbs (1/2 cup), add more if needed
3 grams salt ( 3/4 teaspoon)

4 grams paprika ( 1 teaspoon)
2 grams black pepper ( 1/2 teaspoon)
2 grams thyme ( 1 teaspoon)

2 grams allspice ( 1/2 teaspoon)
60 grams unsalted butter ( 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup)
250 grams (one cup water)

30 grams Olive oil (2 tablespoons)
8 grams garlic minced ( 2 cloves)

Instruction on how to prepare beef patty filling:

Set stove to medium-low setting and add the lean ground beef into a saucepan with 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the meat should be submerged in water completely.
Cook and simmer the meat for approximately 20–30 minutes. Once the meat has absorbed most of the water.
Add in the chopped onions, scallions, salt, black pepper, minced garlic, bonnet or sweet peppers, paprika, thyme, and allspice, and stir till well combined. If you need to add some water to the ground neat do so, you don’t want dry meat, the meat should be juicy.

Add in the breadcrumbs slowly and stir to combine the mixture. Again just make sure there is enough liquid to absorb the breadcrumb.
Add in the butter and combine. Once butter is mixed in, remove beef from heat and set aside.

Instruction on how to prepare beef patty pastry dough:

To make pastry

In a mixing bowl with a hook attachment add the all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, suet, and shortening, and mix on low speed until a crumble texture is developed. If you not using suet add the butter instead. The mixture should look like breadcrumb consistency.

If you don’t have a mixing machine you can cut in the fat using your fingers or with a fork. A food processor will also work with just 6-8 pulses.
Add in the ice-cold water and mix until the ingredients are well combined and the pastry dough is slightly developed.
Removed dough from the mixing machine and wrap in plastic, and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Instructions on how to assemble Jamaican beef patty:

Preheat the oven to 365F ( 185C)

Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 12 equal parts for large patties or 20 equal parts for small patties.
Roll each dough piece into a ball and flatten the round using a rolling pin to about 4 mm.
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 the dough with 1 – 1/2 tablespoons of meat filling.

Overlap the pastry dough to resemble a half-moon crescent and pinch the outer end with a fork to seal the seams.
Place the patties onto a lined baking tray and bake on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes or until the beef patty is lightly golden browned.

That’s it, now you can surprise your family and friends with a piece of Jamaican cuisine.