The Cornish Pasty By Bev Gee

Thursday, March 18, 2010

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Having been born and brought up in the most beautiful corner of the British Isles, where the sea is as blue and clear as the Mediterranean and where lush coastal valleys give way to wild moorland, one of my favourite treats as a child was a hot pasty. My granny would make a batch of pasties on Fridays so we would have them for tea that night and there was always one for my granddad's 'crib box' on Monday. My little pasty would be wrapped in a greaseproof bag and I would sit in the garden nibbling at it, trying not to burn my mouth with the steaming contents - potato and beef (she always left out the onions in mine because I hated them). Of course, I have since grown up and a good pasty cannot be made without onions!

The precise origins of the famous Cornish pasty are unknown. It might have been invented by some resourceful ancient cook who had simply run out of pie dishes. The earliest reference that we have are dated in the 12th Century by one Chretien de Troyes, who wrote Arthurian romances. His characters lived in Cornwall, so it seems that the pasty as a local dish was well established by that time.

The pasty was adopted by Cornish tin miners as the perfect meal - it is a good balance of carbohydrates, fat and protein for a working man. It is portable and self contained and can be eaten hot or cold and is just as tasty either way. To reheat his pasty, a miner would put it on a shovel and hold it over a head-lamp candle.

Traditionally it could have savoury ingredients in one half and sweet in the other. It was eaten from one end to the other and the part held in the hand was thrown away to feed troublesome pixies. This was probably a very good idea as the mines contained arsenic, which undoubtedly got on the miner's hands, thus preventing or delaying his eventual poisoning.

When miners and their families left Cornwall to settle elsewhere - Patagonia, America and Australia, among other places - they took the pasty with them, where they evolved to the local preferences and ingredients.

There are heated debates as to the definitive Cornish pasty recipe. Some insist it should contain white turnip (swede or rutabaga), while others say it must have a little parsley. All agree that it should contain beef, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper. The shortcrust pastry should be partly encrusted with the baked on gravy that spills from the steam vents. Sweet pasties are rarely made these days; half and half is more or less extinct. I do vaguely remember apple pasties though.

'Cornish Recipes Ancient and Modern' says, "It is said that the Devil never crossed the Tamar (River) into Cornwall on account of the well-known habit of Cornish women of putting everything into a pasty, and that he was not sufficiently courageous to risk such a fate!"

Mmm... time to make the pasties!

More Cornish pasty information including a recipe for the perfect shortcrust pastry necessary for the perfect Cornish pasty Cornish Pasty Recipe.

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