We have had a few wet days this week (not complaining if it will put out some of the fires that are burning out of control). But the rather damp summer weather reminded of being in England last year and most particularly our trip to Cornwall where it rained buckets for the first two days. Which in turn reminded me of that great staple of Cornish food, the pasty! These are everywhere in Cornwall, well all through England actually, but eating proper Cornish Pasties was the very first thing we did when we got to St Ives. BTW, the people of Cornwall are tremendously possessive of their pasties. It is for this reason that I am not calling my version Cornish Pasties. Mine are more Cornish-ish Pasties.
We had an odd discussion after I ordered our pasties at the bakery.
“What did you call them?” asked the fussiest eater in the world.
“Pasties” In Australia, we pronounce these with a long A. Pah-sties.
Apparently, the correct pronunciation is with a short” A” like in “pastel”.
I can’t get on board with this, even if it is technically correct. They will always, and only ever be, pah-sties to me. If you’re British or a pedant, knock yourself out with that short A. For those of you not familiar with pasties or pah-sties, just remember that it is never pronounced “Paste-ies”. They are what strippers put on their nips and not delicious beef and veg cooked to perfection in a pastry case!
The pasties in Cornwall are crimped to perfection, each one the exact replica of its neighbour. Mine were a little bit more….hmmmm…let’s call them individualistic.
The perfectly shaped pasty:
Mine:
Pasties came about as food for Cornish tin miners. Originally, the pastry was just to protect the meat and veg from the dirt inside the mines so I guess that a few misshapen pastry shells would not have mattered back in the day!
There is a great article from The Guardian about the history (and contents) of the pasty which you can read here. My favourite bit of that article is the legend that the Devil was scared to cross the River Tamar from Devon because the women of Cornwall were renown for putting anything and everything into their pasties. Imagine popping down to your local bakery for a Satan Pastie! Although actually not quite everything – the carrot – which you will see in many recipes for pasties is a big no-no in the traditional recipes. Potatoes, swedes and onions are the only veg your pasty needs! It also needs LOTS of pepper.
Swedes are such funny things! I only recently found out that the colour difference in the swede is due to the white part growing underground and the purple part growing above ground!
I pretty much followed the recipe given by the Cornish Pasty Association except that I used bought shortcrust pastry! Another legend says that the pastry needs to be solid enough to be dropped down a mineshaft (and land) without falling apart. Mine were going from the oven to my lunchbox so I didn’t have to worry about their structural integrity so much!
Let’s wrap this baby up and pop it in the oven. While it’s baking away, let’s have a look at some of pics of St Ives and Mont St Michel.
This would be a great hill to have a picnic on. Get some pasties to go and enjoy the view!
Here is another article from the Guardian about where and how to eat your pasties. I actually think they are great for picnics as the pastry holds in the heat of the filling for a while. As for condiments – ketchup and the more of it the better for me. Maybe a teeny splash of tabasco with it!
This is The Sloop Inn where we stayed in St Ives.
And here is St Michael’s Mount. You can only reach this at low tide otherwise the causeway is underwater!
Let’s take a peek at our pasties…ah perfectly done!!!
What always astonishes me with pasties is how the meat and veg cooks exactly at the same time as the pastry. You never get any hard lumps of raw potato. It truly is like magic!!!! Now, where’s that ketchup?
Cornwall is so beautiful. I was really happy to be reminded of the trip and all the delicious food we ate there!. I made these pasties way back in October and just writing about them has made me want to make them again. Let’s hope the weather stays bad so I can get baking!
And finally, if you can’t get enough of pasties, here are some more facts….oops! I just realised I crimped my pasties in the Devonshire way! Good thing I said right from the get-go that these were only Cornish-ish (Cornish adjacent?) pasties!!!!
Have a great week everyone!!!!
