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Pasty

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A pasty from Cornwall

A pasty (Cornish: Pasti, Hoggan, incorrectly written as pastie) is a type of pie, originally from Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a baked savoury pastry case traditionally filled with diced meat, sliced potato and onion. The ingredients are uncooked before being placed in the unbaked pastry case.[1] Pasties with traditional ingredients are specifically named Cornish pasties. Traditionally, pasties have a semicircular shape, achieved by folding a circular pastry sheet over the filling. One edge is crimped to form a seal.

The vowel 'a' in pasty is 'pure' (IPA /ˈpæsti/, /ˈpɑːsti/). Thus, "pasty" does not sound anything like "paste." The exact pronunciation varies among dialects.

Oggy is a slang term used in Britain which comes from a Cornish term for the pasty.

Ingredients

While there are no completely standard pasty ingredients, almost every traditional recipe comes from Devon and includes diced steak, finely sliced onion, and potato. Other common ingredients include swede (rutabaga, called yellow turnip in Cornwall) and possibly parsley. The presence of carrot in a store-bought pasty is sometimes considered an indication of inferior quality. Other cuts of beef are occasionally used instead of skirt, and steak may also be replaced by beef mince (ground beef), although in Cornwall this is also a sign of inferior quality. While meat is a common ingredient in modern pasty recipes, it was a luxury for many 19th century Cornish miners, so traditional pasties usually include many more vegetables than meat.

Pasty ingredients are usually seasoned with salt and pepper, depending on individual taste.[2] Traditional Cornish pasties are said to have contained two courses: [3] meat and vegetables at one end, and fruit (such as apples, plums, or cherries) at the other.[2] This reflects the pasty's use as a complete meal for miners, but it is disputed whether the fruit ingredients could actually survive the lengthy baking process required for the meat. No such "two course" pasty is commercially produced in Cornwall today,[4]. although "pork and apple" pasties are readily available in shops throughout Cornwall, albeit with the ingredients, including an apple flavoured sauce, mixed together throughout the pasty[5], as well as sweet pasties such as apple and figgy, and chocolate and banana, which are common in some areas of Cornwall.

Today, pasty contents vary, especially outside of Cornwall. Common fillings include beef steak and stilton, chicken and ham, cheese and vegetable and even turkey and stuffing. Other speciality pasties include breakfast and vegetarian pasties. Pasty crust recipes also vary. Traditional recipes call for a tough (not flaky) crust, which could withstand being held and bumped in the Cornish tin mines. Modern pasties almost always use a short (or pastry) crust.[2] There is a great deal of debate among pasty makers about the proper traditional ingredients and recipes for a pasty, specifically the mixture of vegetables and crimping of the crust.[1] The crimping debate is contested even in Cornwall itself, with some advocating a side crimp while others maintain that a top crimp is more authentic.[4] Another theory is that a pasty whose crimp is at the top of the crust rather than the side is more common in Devon.[2]

In Cornwall there is also a version known as the windy pasty. This is made by taking the last bit of pastry left over from making pasties, which is then rolled into a round, folded over and crimped as for an ordinary pasty. It is baked in an oven and when done (while still hot) opened out flat and filled with jam. It may be eaten hot or cold. [1]

Pasties were traditionally eaten as a complete meal, with the vegetable and meat juices acting as a form of gravy. Nowadays, pasties are sometimes served with gravy or ketchup as a dressing.

History

An old postcard from Cornwall

The origins of the pasty are largely unknown. It is generally accepted that the pasty originates from Cornwall, where pasties evolved to meet the needs of Cornish tin miners. Tradition claims that the pasty was originally made as lunch ('croust' or 'crib' in the Cornish language) for Cornish miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat. The story goes that, covered in dirt from head to foot (including some arsenic often found with tin), they could hold the pasty by the folded crust and eat the rest of the pasty without touching it, discarding the dirty pastry. The pastry they threw away was supposed to appease the knockers, capricious spirits in the mines who might otherwise lead miners into danger.[1] A related tradition holds that it is bad luck for fishermen to take pasties to sea. Due to the high energy content, pasties were also popular as a meal eaten by farmers and other labourers and were not exclusive to miners.

The pasty's dense, folded pastry could stay warm for 8 to 10 hours and, when carried close to the body, helped the miner stay warm.[6] In such pasties meat and each vegetable would each have its own pastry "compartment," separated by a pastry partition. Traditional bakers in former mining towns will still bake pasties with fillings to order, marking the customer's initials with raised pastry. This practice was started because the miners used to eat part of their pasty for breakfast and leave the remaining half for lunch, meaning that a way to identify the pasties was needed.[7] Some mines kept large ovens to keep the pasties warm until mealtime. It is said that a good pasty should be strong enough to endure being dropped down a mine shaft.[8]

Pasties are still very popular throughout Devon, Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Brittany; as well as other parts of the United Kingdom. Pasties in these areas are usually hand-made and sold in bakeries or (less often) specialist pasty shops. They are also sold in supermarkets, but these are mass produced and often taste entirely different from traditional Cornish pasties. Several pasty shop chains have also opened up in recent years, selling pasties that are more traditional than the common mass-produced varieties while still offering novel fillings. It is common in some areas for pasties to be eaten "on-the-move" from the paper bag they are sold in, making them essentially a fast food.

The true region from which pasties originated is hotly disputed between Cornwall and Devon. Outside of Britain, pasties were generally brought to new regions by Cornish miners, and as such are referred to as a Cornish invention. In November 2006, Dr. Todd Gray, chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives, claimed that pasties originate from Devon. His claim is based on the historic Old Audit Book and Receivers Accounts for the Borough of Plymouth, which dates back to the 16th century. The book is housed in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office. [9] Dr. Gray spotted four lines of text which refer to the financial cost of making a pasty, using venison from the Mount Edgcumbe estate just across the Tamar River. The words date back to 1510. Dr. Gray contacted the Cornwall Record Office and found that its earliest record of a pasty recipe was in 1746. This would seem to suggest that Devon made pasties 200 years earlier. However, due to the fact that traditional recipes tend not to be written down by their original makers, instead being passed on by word of mouth, this is not clear. Les Merton, author of The Official Encyclopaedia of the Cornish Pasty, in reply to the claim, says that he believes the pasty was around in Cornwall as early as 8,000BC - 10,000 years ago.[10]

In other Cornish-influenced regions

A pasty from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Cornish miner migrants helped to spread pasties into the rest of the world during the 19th century. As tin mining in Cornwall began to fail, miners brought their expertise and traditions to new mining regions. As a result, pasties can be found in many regions of the world, including:

  • The slate belt mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, including the towns of Bangor, East Bangor, Pen Argyl and Wind Gap where many churches to this day hold "pastie suppers" or sell the items as a means of making money for their parishes.
  • Parts of Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. In some of these areas, pasties are now a major tourist draw, including an annual Pasty Fest in early July in Calumet, Michigan. Pasties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have a particularly unusual history, as a small influx of Finnish immigrants followed the Cornish miners, in 1864. These Finns (and many other ethnic groups) adopted the pasty for use in the Copper Country copper mines. About 30 years later, a much larger flood of Finnish immigrants found their countrymen baking pasties, and assumed that it was a Finnish invention. As a result, the pasty has become strongly associated with Finnish culture in this area.[6]
  • The Mexican state of Hidalgo, and the twin silver mining cities of Pachuca and Real del Monte (Mineral del Monte), have notable Cornish influences from the Cornish miners that settled here. Pasties are considered typical local cuisine.[2] Mexican pasties are often served stuffed with typically Mexican ingredients, such as tinga and mole sauce . In Mexican Spanish, they are referred to as pastes.
Main article: Paste (food)
  • Various parts of Australia including South Australia, particularly the Yorke Peninsula, where many immigrant Cornish miners settled in the 19th century. As well as being produced by large commercial bakeries such as Balfour's and Vili's, most local bakeries in South Australia produce pasties. They are offered for sale alongside, and in South Australia are generally as popular as, Australian meat pies. However, in other Australian states (those without a Cornish heritage) they are relatively little-known. Australian pasties traditionally contain no meat, although this is not universal.
  • Tempe, Arizona, Nevada County and Grass Valley County California, Butte, Montana, and Anaconda, Montana;

The pasty in music, art, and literature

The pasty is the subject of various rhymes and songs. It is also featured in many works of literature, including several of Shakespeare's plays.

The earliest known literary reference to pasties appears in an Arthurian romance by Chretien de Troyes from the 1100's, set in Cornwall and written for the Countess of Champagne. This work includes the line: "Next Guivret opened a chest and took out two pasties. 'My friend,' said he, 'Now try a little of these cold pasties ...' "[6] References to pasties later occur in various Robin Hood stories of the 1300's.[6]

There are references to pasties in three of Shakespeare's plays. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1 Scene 1 the Page says "Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner: come gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness". In All's Well That Ends Well, Act IV Scene III, Parrolles states: "I will confess to what I know without constraint: if ye pinch me like a pasty, I can say no more". Finally, in Titus Andronicus, Titus bakes Chiron and Demetrius's bodies into a pasty, and forces their mother to eat them.

Pasties appear in several other novels. In the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman, main character Shadow discovers pasties at Mabel's restaurant in the fictional town of Lakeside. The food is mentioned as being popularized in America by Cornishmen, similar to how gods are "brought over" to America in the rest of the story. Another literature reference takes place in The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun. Jim Qwilleran often eats at The Nasty Pasty, a popular restaurant in fictional Moose County, famous for its tradition of being a mining settlement. Reference to pasties is also made in Brian Jacques' popular Redwall series of novels, where it is a staple favorite on the menu to the mice and hares of Redwall Abbey. Pasties also appear in the Poldark series of historical novels of Cornwall, by Winston Graham, as well as the television series adapted from these works.

The pasty or "oggie" (Tawney's spelling) made its way into music via the writing of Cyril Tawney. Tawney (12 October 1930 – 21 April 2005), was born in Gosport, Hampshire and became an English folk revivalist specialising in maritime songs[11]. He wrote the song The Oggie Man in 1959 and it appeared on the album A Cold Wind Blows on the Electra ’66 label. It reappeared in 1971 on the Decca Record Company Ltd album The World of Folk [12]. The song tells the story of the disappearance of the Oggie Man from the Devonport Naval Dockyard replaced by the hot dog sellers (the big boys of the song). The Oggie Man was found selling his oggies to sailors returning from sea, from a box at the Albert Gate to the docks. It is believed that the sale of oggies here, dates back to the 1700s[13].

The first verse runs

And the rain softly falling and the Oggie man’s no more
I can’t hear him calling like I used to before
I came through the gateway and I heard the sergeant say
The big boys are a coming see their stands across the way
And the rains softly falling and the Oggie man’s no more

A west country schoolboy playground-rhyme current in the 1940s concerning the pasty went:
    Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
   had a pasty ten feet long,
   cut it once, cut it twice,
   oh my God, it's full of rice.

Cultural references

A traditional Cornish tale claims that the devil knew of Cornishwomen's propensity for putting any available food into pasties, and would never dare to cross the River Tamar into Cornwall for fear of ending up as a pasty filling.[7]

The popular rhyme "Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi" stems from the Cornish word for pasty. When the pasties were ready for eating, the bal-maidens at the mines would shout down the shaft "Oggy Oggy Oggy" and the miners would shout "Oi Oi Oi" meaning yes, or alright. The Welsh comic Max Boyce apologised to the Cornish nation for taking the rhyme from Cornwall and claiming it to be Welsh. It is often sung at Cornish rugby matches where it is accompanied by a second verse.

Pasties are the subject of various competitions and festivals. In Fowey, Cornwall a large pasty is paraded through the streets during regatta week. It is 6 foot long and is so heavy that it needs to be carried by four men - normally in fancy dress. Similarly, a giant pasty is lifted over the goal posts of the Cornish rugby team when they play an important match. Calumet, Michigan holds "pastyfest" each summer to celebrate the regionally famous food.

Although there is no official world record for the largest pasty, in 1985 a group of Young Farmers in Cornwall spent 7 hours making a pasty over 32ft long. This was believed to have been beaten in 1999 when bakers in Falmouth made their own giant pasty during the town's first ever pasty festival.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Christopher Lean. "The Cornish Pasty". Retrieved 2006-03-13.
  2. ^ a b c d Ann Pringle Harris (1988-02-07). "Fare of the Country; In Cornwall, a Meal in a Crust". New York Times. Retrieved 2005-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ UK Icons
  4. ^ a b Hettie Merrick. The Pasty Book. Tor Mark Press, Penryn, 1995.
  5. ^ "Pasty Bakery Menu".
  6. ^ a b c d Luke Miller and Marc Westergren. "History of the Pasty". The Cultural Context of the Pasty. Retrieved 2006-03-13.
  7. ^ a b Edith Martin. Cornish Recipes: Ancient and Modern. A. W. Jordan.
  8. ^ Horace Sutton (1972-10-01). "Cornwall: Land of King Arthur". Chicago Tribune. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "West Devon Record Office". Retrieved 2005-12-23.
  10. ^ ""Pasty Wars" from the Western Morning News". Retrieved 2006-12-23.
  11. ^ 27 April 2005, The Guardian Newspaper, London, England
  12. ^ The World of Folk, Decca Records, SPA-A 132
  13. ^ 2002, Cyril Tawney on BBC Folkspan Program
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