Pastry Matters

If you want to start an argument with a Cornishman tell him a Cornish Pasty can be made with puff pastry. If you want to really upset him tell him the best ones come from Devon.

An aficionado will tell you that only short crust pastry should be used and not sweet short crust at that.

Traditionally a Cornish Pasty was a miner’s lunch that he carried down underground into the tin mines.  As the conditions were less than ideal and things such as carry bags or tins had not been invented yet the pastry itself made up the carry case.

Up to ½ inch thick it acted as its own carry case with the interior consisting of meat, potatoes and turnips and was thrown away at lunchtime with only the contents being eaten.  The superstitious amongst the miners claimed the throw away part of the pasty was an offering to the underground gods to keep the miners safe whilst they worked.

If you want to have another argument with a Cornishman tell him it should be mostly meat….

Correctly no more than 30% of the contents should be meat (according to Cornish people)– it was expensive and hard to find back in the 18^th Century hence its low percentage.

Anecdotal evidence also says that one end was the meat and vegetables with the other end being Jam or fruit, normally apple.

Whatever the truth of the matter Cornish Pasties are a traditional part of English culinary heritage and should be preserved as such.Apparently they have been making Cornish Pasties since 1746, or at least that is the earliest recorded recipe.

A pasty made with meat, vegetables and puff pastry is exactly that –  a puff pastry pasty.

Now the next important question is where can you get a good traditional Cornish Pasty? I sense a quest coming on soon