ISO: Cornish Pasties

[paddfoot]

ive been given a challange to make cornish pasties, first, what are they and second, help me make them, i have no idea what they are supposed to taste like. thanx

 

[Callisto in NC]

Pasties or patties or pastries? Pasties are the things that cover a woman's areola generally used in a strip show.

Edit, my bad ~ check out here http://kenanderson.net/pasties/cornish.html

 

[Scotch]

It's a thick turnover -- baked pastry filled with meat, onions, potatoes, etc. Very good stuff if made well. I have a recipe someplace...

Oh, and it is pastie, pronounced just like the things stripper used to wear.

 

[jennifer75]

empenada?

 

[compaddict]

From Cornwall England. Potatoes and meat with lots of connecting tissue wrapped in a pastry shell.

Vince

 

[Scotch]

Found it:

Cornish Pasties

Pastry:
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
About ½ cup water

Filling:
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup cubed potatoes (about ½" X ½")
1 cup cubed carrots (about ½" X ½")
½ cup finely chopped onion
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Prepare pastry from listed ingredients. Divide into six equal parts and roll each into a 6-inch circle.

Brown meat in hot oil; add potatoes, carrots, and onion, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes.

Place equal portions of meat filling on half of each circle of dough. Moisten edges with water, fold over to form semicircles, and press edges of each semicircle of filled dough together with the tines of a fork.

Place pasties on a baking sheet and bake in 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30 minutes.

Serve hot, with ketchup, hot gravy, or mushroom sauce.

Makes six servings.

 

[SierraCook]

I have had pasties at Cousin Jacks Pasties in Grass Valley, CA. They are really heavy, stick to your ribs kind of food. They make many kinds of pasties, but the traditional are filled with steak and vegetables. Cornish miners emigrated to Grass Valley to work in the gold mines when the copper and tin mines in Cornwall were declining. The miners liked the pasties because they were a meal in one and they could eat them with only touching part of the pasties with their dirty hands. Then they would throw away the crust of the pastie that they touched, it was supposed to appease the spirits that might lead the miners to danger in the mines.

 

[kadesma]

I have had pasties at Cousin Jacks Pasties in Grass Valley, CA. They are really heavy, stick to your ribs kind of food. They make many kinds of pasties, but the traditional are filled with steak and vegetables. Cornish miners emigrated to Grass Valley to work in the gold mines when the copper and tin mines in Cornwall were declining. The miners liked the pasties because they were a meal in one and they could eat them with only touching part of the pasties with their dirty hands. Then they would throw away the crust of the pastie that they touched, it was supposed to appease the spirits that might lead the miners to danger in the mines.

SC,
just the way my grandmother made them, although at times she would add diced turnips or carotts in them. I love them and enjoy them at room temp like an in hand sandwich..I like making them and my grand kids just love the half moon shape of them..Wonderful dinner or heavy late lunch
kades

 

[miniman]

Actually the original pasties were made for Cornish tin miners and had meat and potatoes at one end and fruit at the othe other so they were a meal in one go. They are the shape with a thick braiding down one side so they did have to wash their hands. They hald held the pasty by the braiding, ate the rest and then tossed the braiding away as it had picked up all the muck from their hands.

 

[Claire]

Pasties are very popular around here, and to be honest with you, I think your basic very thick beef stew recipe would work, and if I were to make one, I'd go to the dairy section and use a pre-made pie crust. Because they are so popular we hear all sorts of arguments (much like you do when French people talk cassoulet or Italians talk almost any dish) about what vegetables should or should not go into them. The thing to remember about what I call "home cooking" or "peasant dishes" (not meant in a derogatory way, just what poor folk cook for everyday meals) is that the ingredients are what YOU have available. The big question here is whether or not to turnip. Nowadays, you turnip if you like turnips. Around here people make the entire pastry edible, but I've heard the same thing Miniman says, that the edge was meant to be held by hands that had coal on them, and tossed away. Here I've seen them made with both ground or chopped beef, and I've heard of them made with mutton in old books. Again, these foods were made with what was available, and in this case, probably were made with the stew from last night's dinner.

 

[AMSeccia]

It's a thick turnover -- baked pastry filled with meat, onions, potatoes, etc. Very good stuff if made well. I have a recipe someplace...

Oh, and it is pastie, pronounced just like the things stripper used to wear.

Actually, no .. it is NOT pronounced the same ... it is pastie (pronounced like past-tense). And they are FABULOUS. We used to make them 100 at a time in my parents' restaurant as a kid. These are huge in Michigan's Upper Peninsula because of the mining history. Ours were even highlighted once in the Detroit Free Press as a travel favorite (which was a big fat hairy deal at the time).

 

[AMSeccia]

I should have read all the replies before I chimed in (sorry). We never precooked the meat. We diced carrots, onions, potatoes and ground our own beef, seasoned well with salt, pepper, garlic and parsley, and wrapped in homemade pastry dough rounds, folded over, sealed with the pastry wheel and crimped the edges. We baked them on parchment lined full sheet pans in the pizza oven, which was always fired at a gazillion degrees. When I make them at home, I bake for an hour at 350 - 375 range on a stone. The braid explanation makes sense, but I'm not sure that tradition has followed. The juices from the meat tend to soak up in the crimped edges and that's my favorite part. Nothing smells as good as pasties in the oven (think bread or pie) ... it's to die for! I got a kick out of the IL post saying the debate was whether to add turnips or not. In Michigan, the big question is whether to include rutabagies (sp?).

Gravy or sauce (such as would be with a stew-like filling) is served on the side, and is very controversial, as miners certainly wouldn't have had a thermos of gravy handy. Most purists like ketchup or butter (or both). Me, I could eat all three, lol.

This thread brings me home, so I am off to make pasties!

 

[compaddict]

Purists use good malt vinegar!

Vince

 

[Scotch]

Actually, no .. it is NOT pronounced the same ... it is pastie (pronounced like past-tense)....

Live and learn. The only place I've had them in this area called them paste-ees. Of course, they also serve Guinness ice cold.

Incidently, according to Wikipedia, a pastie is not the same as a Cornish pasty. The former post claims that a pastie is battered and deep fried and rarely seen outside Northern Ireland. The latter has a lot of information about and recipes for pastys, which it says are sometimes called pasties in the U.S. These seem to be more what we're talking about here. Whatever, they're good!

 

[AMSeccia]

Purists use good malt vinegar!

Vince

That does sound like an interesting complement to a pasty, although I never ever had a single request for it. I can't wait to try that!

 

[miniman]

We just eat them straight or maybe with a side of chips (translate to fries if you are from over the pond)

One of my cooking classes makes pasties with a pork & apple filling.

 

[compaddict]

That does sound like an interesting complement to a pasty, although I never ever had a single request for it. I can't wait to try that!

I grew up in Grass Valley Ca. When I was in high school one of the local pasty makers (King Richards) would send me to the competition to bring them samples.

Vince

 

[AMSeccia]

We just eat them straight or maybe with a side of chips (translate to fries if you are from over the pond)

One of my cooking classes makes pasties with a pork & apple filling.

*gasp* pork and apple ... brilliant! Can I ask ... what kind of pork (shredded, ground, fine dice, etc.)? What else was in the filling, onion?

 

[miniman]

We use sausagemeat and mix it with grated apple, sage, ginger, cumin and ground coriander. Fairly basic to give them the idea of how to make pasties. The last ones were on Thursday and turned out well.

 

[AMSeccia]

Thank you miniman, I cannot wait to try this variation!