Cooked meat or fish enclosed in a thin pastry crust is an adaptation of a colonial dish—British pasties—turned into everyday food that is served throughout the African diaspora. In some regions, stuffed pastries are sold as a snack at street stands. The people of Cape Verde fry a peppery tuna mixture in pockets of coarse pastry dough made from sweet potato and corn flour—“pastry with the devil inside.” In Jamaica, the “patty” is a rich, turmericlaced crust leavened with baking powder, and it cradles a mixture of ground meat and vegetables. Latin Americans trace their love of fillings made of beef, raisins, and olives to a combination that originated with the Moors, as Sandra A. Gutierrez explained in Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America. To heighten the island experience, I have also slipped in a little jerk chicken or pork.
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, enslaved and free pastry chefs mastered the art of baking with dough, David S. Shields explained in Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine, especially the puff pastry that cradled savory mixtures such as creamed oysters, sweetbreads, or crab (called patties), and hot meat pies of all kinds.
When the soul cooks of the 1960s adopted hand-held meat pies into their repertoires, the names became Americanized. Inez Yeargan Kaiser called them hamburger turnovers in Soul Food Cookery, a collection of “wellseasoned, savory dishes” she believed would “bridge the gap in our society,” enable readers to “understand the cultural backgrounds of all people,” and provide a “channel for better communication.” The year was 1968, and she was using her education in home economics to heal racial disturbances by developing appreciation for “Negro” cooking.
Serving these tender little packets rekindles that hope. Today, recipes for samosas, samusas, empanadas, meat pies, and zamboosies turn up frequently in black cookbooks, a casual reminder of our international heritage. I adapted this recipe from Eric Copage’s curried lamb samosas. He enveloped the spicy filling in wonton wrappers (another nod toward the global pantry). My version maintains the ancestral character of the African diaspora and the Caribbean, cradling a spicy beef filling in curry-scented homemade pastry. I omitted the baking powder some cooks call for, which yields a somewhat sturdier crust, and added more fat to make my pockets flaky. Or, you may opt to use the wonton wrappers (see the Variation) and fry them until crisp.