There is some controversy in England whether pasties originated in Cornwall, or Devon, as both areas lay claim to the pastry. As I understand it, in Corwall, the seam is pinched together on top of the pastry, and it is pinched on the side in Devon. There were also pasties made with a flap of dough on the inside that served as a seperator where the savory filling was placed in 2/3rds of the pastie, and a fruit filling with a thickener such as flour was placed in the other third, making the pastie truly a meal, complete with desert. Pasties are common in more places than in England and Michigan's U.P. it seems. There is a version in Mexico, in Montana, and other states where Englanders settled and mined. In Michigan and Minnesota, the miners worked in copper and iron mines rather than in coal mines. I also understand that the difference between an empenada and a pasty is that in the pasty, the filling put into the pastry raw, and cooked with the pastry, while in an empenada, the filling is pre-cooked. There is much to learn about the humble pasty. All I know is that it makes a delicious meal. In my home town, an enterprizing pizzaria made pizza pasties that were to die for (and it was rich enough that it just might if you ate it often enough
). The thing was made simiply by folding the prepared pizza in half before cooking it, pinching the edges, and baking until golden brown. But since the fillings were pre-cooked, I guess you would more correctly call it a calzone. Whatever you call it, it was the best pizza product available, anywhere! (IMHO of course
).
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North