'Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, ate a pasty five feet long,
Bit it once, bit it twice, oh my lord, it's full of mice.'
- west Country playground-rhyme
It often occurs to me that all the foods I loved as a child, homemade: chips, crumpets, Yorkshire puddings, Scotch eggs, shortbread, stew and dumplings, rice pudding with crispy skin, bread pudding, apple pie and cornish pasties, (to name but a few) which have burned beautiful memories in my mind, were all rather labour intensive for my mother. By contrast I can walk into any supermarket and buy all of the above as bottom end, high volume, prepared meals.
And I guess, because we don't have to labour over our food anymore and because everything is so accessible and we demand immediacy, homely and delicious, traditional and comforting, words I associate with my mum's cooking, just don't apply anymore. Naturally a commercially prouduced scotch egg or tin of rice pudding bears no resemblance to the home cooked version and possibly one of the worst pre-packaged things I've ever eaten was a pasty.
Regarded as the national dish of Cornwall, the pasty is one of the most pleasurable and delicious things you can eat, if it's homemade! Traditionally made with beef, swede, potatoes and onions, encased in pastry, the pasty is delicious served with pickles, salad, mustard and a cold beer.
A wealth of historical evidence confirms the importance of the Cornish pasty as part of the country's culinary heritage with some of the first references appearing during the 13th century. In the 18th century it was firmly established as a Cornish food eaten by poorer working families. By the 19th century, migrating cornish miners and their families (colloquially known as cousin Jacks and cousin Jennies) helped to spread pasties into the rest of the world.
An ideal food for miners and farmers, the pasty was portable and provided enough sustenance to see the workers through their long and arduous working days. Side crimped pasties gave rise to the suggestion that the miner would have eaten the pasty holding the crimped edge of the pastry, (which would later be discarded) ensuring his dirty fingers (possibly containing traces of arsenic) did not touch food or his mouth.
Pasties were associated with 'knockers' spirits said to create a knocking sound that was either supposed to indicate the location of rich viens of ore, or to warn of an impending tunnel collapse. To encourage the good will of knockers, miners would leave a small part of their pasty within the mine for them to eat.
For centuries pasties have lovingly been made. The modern pasty is made with shortcrust pastry, however, there is a humorous belief that the pastry on a good pasty should be strong enough to withstand a drop down a mine shaft! I often use puff pastry as I find shortcrust a bit dense, either are delicious.
A trans fat-based, production line, mass produced pasty is a thing of horror. The pastry casing and particularly the crimp, which should be a golden, crispy affair, has a plasticine/play dough texture and the inside a slurry of dark goo!
I tend to chop and change my ingredients although I always use finely chopped skirt steak. The vegetables can be seasonable, root vegetables in the winter, peas, beans and asparagus in the spring, it's really down to personal preference.
I know everyone wants quick meals these days but you haven't lived until you've tasted a savoury pasty with golden flaky pastry. Foods like these that have been part of our food landscape for centuries deserve a bit of respect.
Cornish pasties
Recipe
1 packet of shortcrust or puff pastry
350g skirt steak
1 onion, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
1 small turnip, peeled
1 stick celery
Sea salt and pepper
Olive oil
Preheat oven 200c/gas 6
Cut the vegetables into small pieces and sweat over a medium heat with a splash of olive oil and a good seasoning of salt and pepper for 3 minutes, set aside and allow to cool
Cut the steak into 1cm pieces, drizzle with a little olive oil and season
On a floured surface, roll out pastry to the thickness of a pound coin
Use a circular cutter to cut out six equal pieces, take a mixture of meat and veg, compact it in your hand, and place it on one half of your circle
Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg and fold the pastry over the meat and veg to make a D shape
Press down and seal, brush the pasties all over with egg wash
Bake for 30 minutes
'It is said that the devil never crossed the Tamar into Cornwall on account of the well-known habit of Cornish women putting everything into a pasty, and that he was not sufficiently courageous to risk such a fate.'
- early legend about the pasty, Cornish women tended to throw in any leftovers they had into it!
Love Donna xxxxxxx
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