I recently wrote and illustrated a children's book about a Jamaican folk tale called Anansi and the Market Pig.  In the story, there is a butcher who offers to off a bull and make a patty or two.  If you live in the United States, you know I'm talking about a hamburger patty.  But, this is a Jamaican tale, and once I landed on the island, I discovered that "patty" has an entirely different meaning in Jamaica.

In Jamaica, man, a patty is a flaky pastry stuffed with all kinds of goodness. That goodness could include chicken, jerk chicken, beef, cheese, shrimp, tuna, spinach, or vegetables.  I guess you can always make them at home, but in Jamaica it seems to be perfectly acceptable to get your patties at a local fast food place called Tastee.  You can get them at other shops, but it is common knowledge that you should go to Tastee.

Beef Ingredients:

  

2 lbs ground beef 1 tsp allspice black pepper to taste 2 Tbs vegetable oil 1 cup onions (diced) 2 tsp minced garlic 8 springs of thyme

2 small hot peppers salt to taste 2 Tbs tomato ketchup 1 tsp paprika 2 cups water 1 cup onion greens

    
I think I'd go Jamaican (at least like the Jamaicans I met) where this recipe is concerned and simply go eat from Tastee.  This is more involved than I like in the kitchen.  But, if this is the kind of thing you do in your kitchen, here goes.

In a large bowl combine your meat with the allspice and black pepper.  Then set it aside as you heat up the oil and sauté the onions until they are translucent. Once successful, toss in the garlic, minced thyme, hot peppers, and salt for an additional minute.

It's finally time to add the meat to the mix.  You want to brown it all.  If it is pink, it's still alive.  And there is no live meat in anything I prepare.  Then, add the ketchup and paprika for a little color.

Stir in the water and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow things to simmer.  You want to get rid of most of the water and have a thickened sauce. Finally, fold in the onion greens and set everything aside to cool.
 
Pastry Ingredients:

9 ozs veggie shortening 4 cups flour

1 level tsp salt 1 tsp turmeric (or curry) 1 cup ice water

             
a little later:  

1 egg or egg white

1 Tbs water, milk, or cream

       
Combine the shortening, flour, salt, and turmeric.  Then, add the water to form a dough that can be rolled out.  If, like me, you don't have a rolling pin, that also needs to be a part of the ingredients list.  Now, in one recipe I studied, it called for rolling the dough into a ball.  I don't know how to do that.  If I rolled the dough, it would be flat.  So, roll out your dough.  Mix up your ingredients thoroughly. Then, stuff it back into a ball which you wrap in wax paper and pop in the freezer from thirty minutes to overnight, depending on whose recipe you want to follow.

The next day, let the dough defrost.  Pull off a chunk of dough that when rolled out would be about the size of a saucer, roughly five inches wide.  Dip the dough in flour and then start your rolling.  It is absolutely allowed to slap an actual saucer over the rolled-out dough and trim the dough to have a real circle. Yep, absolutely permitted, but not required.

Place three tablespoons of the beef goodies on one side of your dough circle. Dip a finger into water and moisten the edges of the circle.  Then, fold over the other half of the circle to form a crescent shape.  Press to seal the edges.  You may use the tines of your fork to crimp a delicate design to the edge.  If you're really talented with all kinds of baking experience, you can twist the edges of the patty into a decorative pie crust design.  I'm not.  I have no clue what else to tell you about that.  You either know what to do or go to Tastee as far as I'm concerned on this part of the recipe.

Now place your completed patties on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Parchment lining sheets are also not found in my kitchen.  Add that to the ingredients list as well.  Just before you pop them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, until they are golden brown, brush them with an egg wash.

Now, I've never done an egg wash before.  I had to look that up.  It's fairly easy. You can use the egg white only or the entire egg.  Mix it up with a tablespoon of liquid. That liquid could be water, milk, or cream.  If you use just the egg white, the mixture will add some sheen to the patty.  If you include the egg yolk, it will add more of a golden color.  It's your call.

You used a lot of flour and a lot of beef.  This recipe should make over 30 patties. They are supposed to be eaten warm, but I can attest that they also taste good as cold leftovers.