Man oh man! Where does time go? My last post was January 30th and here we are sitting at the end of March. Needless to say the past few months have been kind of crazy… “kind of” being a serious understatement. I’m actually writing this as I listen to Justin Timberlake’s new CD while sitting in a hotel room in Muscat, Oman. Yup, I’m in the Middle East for two weeks over spring break for a class. There will likely be a post on this at some point.
So, what made the past few months so crazy? Going into business school everyone warned that winter quarter (January to March) is basically the worst because it’s recruiting season. To summarize, every first year gets worked up into a tizzy trying to find a 10-week internship for the summer. Into. A. Tizzy. Me included. I did a lot of consulting recruiting which means a lot of case prep which in layman’s terms means meeting classmates for over an hour everyday to practice cracking business cases in preparation for interviews. Then (if you’re lucky – i was) you get the chance to interview with the big companies and hope you get passed onto the second round and ultimately get that job. Second rounds are generally in the city where you would be working so you’re likely missing class for classes that you haven’t been paying attention in because you’ve been so focused on recruiting. Then, heaven forbid you don’t get one of those jobs upfront (I didn’t) and you have to do an off-campus job search which means there’s no clear ending in sight as to when you will secure your 10-week summer gig. So I dubbed February the month of rejection and decided to go out on a limb and take chances on a few things because in February, rejection was the name of the game. It was actually more fun than it sounds because when you expect rejection and it happens it’s less awful and if you don’t get rejection then things are that much more fun. Unless it makes things more confusing (it did…twice) and then you are like WTF!?!?!
With the month of rejection behind me I dubbed March the month of tying up loose ends. The best loose end is that I found a summer gig. Luckily right before spring break in the craziest of crazy twists of fate I got an offer from a major global food manufacturer (that I had actually included in my first draft of essays in my application to Kellogg) to do brand management for the summer. I’m still not sure how all of the stars in the universe lined up just so to make it happen but needless to say I am thrilled AND will be in Chicago for the summer. Other loose ends were tied up (I got Beyonce tickets!) with various degrees of hilarity and others are totally NOT tied up. Which leaves me needing a theme for April…
That was a lot of personal ish. Let me just write about making beef patties.
I grew up eating Jamaican beef patties. Not just because I’m Jamaican (which didn’t help) but because in Toronto (at least back in the day) every corner store and some subway stations would sell beef patties. When I was little I was partial to the patties at Bathurst Station or Patty King. As I grew up I realized that Randy’s on Eglinton is where it’s at (beef, chicken, veggie… doesn’t matter) but I also appreciate Allen’s in Peanut Plaza particularly for their goat patty. With such an abundant supply of patties we never made patties at home (kind of like how the French don’t make croissants at home). Over the summer I was talking to someone about food (shocking) and I realized that it had never occurred to me to make patties before. So in a fit of February procrastination I decided to make me some patties.
I would say my primary source recipe was this recipe from the New York Times. I of course consulted some of my Jamaican cookbooks for validation and from a spice perspective things seemed pretty spot on so I was confident. Unsurprisingly, making Jamaican beef patties is quite a bit of work. You have to make the filling. Let it cool. Make the dough. Roll out the dough. Make the patties. It’s definitely a process. BUT at the end I ended up with a lot of patties in my freezer which have come in so handy under so many circumstances so I’m not even complaining.
The patties turned out pretty fantastic. The filling was pretty spot on in terms of flavouring and would’ve been even better if I could find the proper Jamaican scallion and thyme. My crust was a bit too thick and not as flaky as I would’ve liked. Ideally I would love to secure some beef suet and see how that stacks up compared to vegetable shortening. Definitely a success.
Jamaican Beef Patties
For the crust:
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder, preferably West Indian
1½ cups cold vegetable shortening or chopped beef suet (about 12 ounces)
For the filling:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 scallions, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Scotch bonnet chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 pound ground beef, about 80 percent lean
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Coco bread, hamburger buns or soft potato buns, for serving (optional).
1. Mix flour, salt, turmeric and curry powder in a large bowl. Add shortening or suet and use your fingertips to rub it together with flour. When shortening is in small pieces and covered with flour, pour in ½ cup ice water and mix with your hands. Keep adding ice water, a few tablespoons at a time, until mixture forms a dough. It may be slightly sticky. Knead dough for two minutes, form into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate while you make filling.
2. Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat and add scallions, onion, garlic and half the chili pepper. Cook, stirring, until softened but not browned. Add paprika and allspice and stir to coat. Add beef and thyme and stir, breaking up any clumps. Add water just to cover meat. Mix in salt, pepper and sugar and bring to a simmer. Taste for seasonings, adding salt, pepper and chili pepper, if necessary; mixture should be quite spicy. Simmer about 30 minutes, until meat is soft and water is reduced to a sauce. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove one disk of dough from refrigerator and divide it in half. Roll out one half on a lightly floured surface until large enough to cut three circles, each about 6 inches across. (Use the rim of a bowl turned upside down as a guide.) Repeat with remaining dough, setting aside the circles. Use scraps to make additional small patties, if you like.
4. When ready to fill, have ready a fork for crimping and a bowl of water. Place two tablespoons of filling on lower half of one circle. Dip a finger into water and moisten the edge of the dough. Fold the top half over, pulling dough gently over filling and making a thick edge all around. Crimp edge with a fork and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet, preferably nonstick. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake about 25 minutes, until top crust is firm and golden. Serve hot as is or inside buns.
Yield: 12 patties.
via The New York Times
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Tonya Congrats on landing your summer gig! So proud of you!!
always love when you pop in with an update for us! i, too, had a horrible february (cancelled flights, root canal, horrible cold)and getting beyonce tickets for july was a high point! are you going to see justin & jay-z too?