Forfar Bridies (Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Forfar Bridie and Cornish pasty? ›

A bridie or Forfar bridie is a Scottish type of meat pastry or pie, originally from the town of Forfar, reminiscent of a Cornish pasty, but made without potato!

A Forfar Bridie is a horseshoe-shaped meat product. It has a shortcrust cover and the filling consists of beef, onions and seasoning. The Famous Forfar Bridie. They originated in the early part of the 19th century.

The name “Bridie” has two possible origins. One is that the name comes from Maggie Bridie of Glamis who sold them at Buttermarket and the other is that the horseshoe shape made them lucky to serve at weddings and took the name from the bride.

The filling of a bridie consists of minced steak, butter, and beef suet seasoned with salt and pepper. It is sometimes made with minced onions. Before being baked, the bridie's filling is placed on pastry dough, which is then folded into a semi-circular shape; finally, the edges are crimped.

This made for a hearty yet portable meal for the miners. They're still very popular there, and you'll find them in every local bakery and community cookbook! American pasties are the American equivalent to Cornish pasties.

Also known as mutton pies, these have a very long history. In the middle ages, they were frowned upon by the Scottish church, viewed as luxurious, decadent English-style food.

Forfar is easily accessible from Dundee and Aberdeen, via the A90. The town was once the seat of Scotland's King Malcolm Canmore and is famous for its witches who once danced on graves and frolicked with the devil. Find out more at the Meffan Museum.

A Scottish Bridie is simple hand-held meat pie made in a horseshoe shape. It usually contains beef, and sometimes onion, and a few various seasonings.

'Forfar Bridies' may also be sold frozen raw for later baking (at temperatures of 210 degrees Celsius).

A pasty (/ˈpæsti/) is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles, and elsewhere through the Cornish diaspora.

How many calories are in a forfar bridie? ›

Most Cornish Pasties contain beef skirt steak or another cut of ground beef, potatoes, onions, and swedes (rutabagas in the US). Forfar Bridies, on the other hand, may contain onion or may sometimes be plain, without onion.

SUITABLE FOR EATEN HOT OR COLD.

A traditional family recipe of Ground Beef, mixture of mild seasoning, with some finely diced onions folded into a flaky puff pastry. Also known as a Pasty throughout the UK, Bridies (pronounced Bri-Dee) were first developed in Forfar in the late 1800's.

Forfar Bridies and Cornish Pasties are both meat pies and are generally hand-held. The difference between a Forfar Bridie and a Cornish Pasty is that the Pasty, originally from Cornwall, England, has vegetables in it.

However, there is agreement that the meat should be chopped (not necessarily minced), the vegetables sliced and none should be cooked before they are sealed within the pastry. It is this that makes the Cornish pasty different from other similar foods.

In Cornwall, a pasty is often called an “Oggie”, and while it is unclear as to where the word originated, some people have suggested that it is derived from hoggan, a kind of bag in which the miners carried their croust (croust is the Cornish term for lunch).

Since 2011, the Cornish Pasty has enjoyed protected status under Protected Food Names legislation; so only a pasty made to a specific recipe in Cornwall can be called a “Cornish Pasty”.