Cornish pasties

[Cuzzin Jack]

Hey ya'll: Does anyone have a good recipe for pasties? My grandma always said If you couldn't drop one down a mineshaft and have it in one piece after it hit bottom it wasn't any good. She was raised in English Camp at the New Almaden quicksilver mines.                                                                                                                                                                                           Cuzzin Jack

[Delmonico]

Well you should have posted this earlier, one of my customers who is Welsh was in here just an hour ago, I bet she could have helped with this.   I'll search, I think I have her phone number somewhere.

[Cuzzin Jack]

Cornish Del, Cornish                                                                                                                                                                                                   Cuzzin Jack

[Delmonico]

Yeah, but they're darn close and I think she does some Cornish also, I will see if I can get a hold of her.

[Cuzzin Jack]

Thanks Del                                                                                                                                                                                                           Cuzzin Jack

[Athena Jake]

Hey ya'll: Does anyone have a good recipe for pasties? My grandma always said If you couldn't drop one down a mineshaft and have it in one piece after it hit bottom it wasn't any good. She was raised in English Camp at the New Almaden quicksilver mines.                                                                                                                                                                                           Cuzzin Jack

Well here is a link to a website of a Lady that was on Secrety Life of... and her recipie for pastis.  I have made these my self, they are durn near bulletproof, and taste like the ones I used to get in Cornwall home made, and better than the ones I can get in "da U.P."  Albeit these are not as healthy...

From THE SECRET LIFE OF... PIE
"This is not low calorie. This is not low fat. This is not low carb. This is LOW TECH!"
RECIPE FOR CORNISH PASTIES:   http://www.susanfox.name/?page_id=3
As a tip if you use beef suet in the crust (and I recomend it) grating it gives the best results.

Athena Jake

[Delmonico]

Aww, I think that is what we want, looks like what I have seen before.  This is also about historic cooking, not healthy, although a lot of historic is not as bad as has been trumped up in the past.  For example in this one, the beef suet is a natural product and has about the same good/bad cholesteral ratio as the vegtable shortening or the butter, but only the butter and the suet are a natural product, vegyable shortening is made with a large chemistry set.   The suet is what makes it "bullet proof" for the miners lunch pail.

A bit on suet also, the suet to make it this tough would be of grass fed beef, rather than of our more modern "corn" fed beef, which is a softer product with a lower melting temp.  Making it not as tough, a lot of kneading of the dough will also toughen the crust. 

Often these "British Isle" (see I'm careful who's line I cross. ) miners pastrys had meat in one end, veggies in the middle and fruit at the other end and you had your courses in the proper order by starting at the proper end.

[Cuzzin Jack]

Del: Thanks to you and AJ. that sounds like what grandma usta make.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Cuzzin Jack

[Delmonico]

I talked to my friend and she said to use the suet and some extra kneeding to make that tougher crust.  Let us know how is does.

[Capt Clancey Mitarwan]

I always loved Cornish Pasties and Scotch Eggs while I was stationed in England. Glad to see a recipe, and bring back some memories.

[El Peludo]

Sorry, Cuzzin Jack, no recipe; I usually don't work from one, nor did my Grandma's, or my Mother-In-Law.  I grew up on "pies" - didn't know they was called "Pasties" until I moved to the Gold Country up in the High Sierras; they were a niche food - or something like that, up there.

In my experience, watching my elders cook, they just rolled out their regular ol' pie crust and cut it into rounds, filled them with whatever they had on hand, or wanted to use, folded them over and sealed them up with a fork or a "knuckle pinch", and either brushed them with bacon grease/butter, and baked them, or fried them in about an inch of oil or such.  O'course, the fried type wouldn't qualify as a Pastie, but they were all the same under the surface.

After we discovered the real name for the baked variety, a venture into genaeology brought out that our ancestors were all primarily from the Cornwall Region of Southern England, and from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, with a few other nationalities mixed in for good measure, so it is no wonder that we had the "pie" as a part of our regular fare; it's name just got changed over the last 360 years.

[Cuzzin Jack]

Yeah EP, My mom's people came from around Penzance(as in the pirates of).                                                                                                                                                                                                           Cuzzin Jack

[The Elderly Kid]

Legend has it that the wide, thick seam where you fold the pastie over and seal it is to act as a handle. The miners had no facilities for washing their hands before lunch, so they held the pastie by that seam and when they'd finished the rest of it, threw the "handle" part away.