Pasties, a 1800s era miner's lunch. A contemporary take on pasties.

vavavroom

vavavroom

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Cornish pasties are an original street food from the 1800s. They are meat pies made with a rough puff crust and a savory filling. Back in the day the miners/minors* commonly took pasties for lunch down below. Those pasties had often a savory and a sweet half. The miners held their pasties by the crimp with their filthy fingers. The crimp was discarded. The original filling was typically potatoes, beef, and rutabaga. Nowadays, there is a large variety of fillings. The crust can be made from rough puff, authentic and preferable in terms of taste, or from shortcrust which is less tasty and cheaper.

After having tried several pasties in Gold Country where the pasties catered once to many of the immigrant miners/minors, I have come to the conclusion that beef stroganoff style and Black Forrest Ham, potato, and Brie are my favorite fillings.

I made some pasties today. I have not yet refined my technique in making a nice-looking decorative crimp. Tasted great anyway! I made rough puff pastry. I used an egg wash to glue the pasty to itself when folding it, and I applied the egg wash on the top of the pasties.

*It's actually not funny but it is a reminder of the "Good Old Days."

The rough puff pastry was rolled out to a little less than 1/4" thick. The filling was added and the edges were brushed with eggwash. 45 minutes at 350°F.


The finished product




I had it with sauerkraut.
 
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Finnish pasty’s are the best, eaten hot and plain or cold with ketchup.

The typical crust is strong/tough on the bottom with butteriness . Legend says a good pasty will bounce off the ground without breaking.
You can make them like a pie but they might not be as good.

Mix of ground round and pork, onions, seasoning and potatoes.

They are normally best from Randall’s bakery or Grams or Spuds in the UP during the off season (now) as the ones made for locals are different.

Cornish have rutabaga and all the flavored pasties including ones with gravy have never been as good to my pallet.

I had pasty trays at college in Platteville and they weren’t bad, the Cornish ones from shakerag alley were ok as well but not as good as the ones in the UP.

Many non-yooper pasties are too dry and less flavorful. (Guessing too lean of meat and no fresh lard/butter)

Cornish or Finn are both good if they are seasoned well with the proper buttery crust.

I grew up with them so I know good, meh and bad.
Your crust looks correct but I’ve had good looking bad pasties and bad looking good pasties depending on the chef, my grandmother would make a single gigantic pasty to feed everyone, less crust but more filling that way.

We ate the tough sometimes burnt edges regardless (no waste) if you didn’t pick them up and eat you had to flip them upside down to have a hope at cutting the bottom crust.
 
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The Finnish or Karelian pasties seem more like kalitki to me. Ah, Tatiana, she was so skilled with pasties. Or did she spell her name Tatyana? I can't remember but I do remember her hot and juicy kalitki with buttery potato filling with cream. :p
 
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By the way, thanks to my personal editor for putting more effort into a thread title than I ever would! I take zero responsibility for the thread title. (y)

EDIT: I couldn't help but make the thread title mine by editing it again.
 
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UncleDave said:
Looks good.

I live in a mining town, only had the cornish varieties. There a three pasty places in a 5 mile radius here.
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Chances are I ate their pasties just a few days ago. My favorite ones were from Pies of the World in Placerville. Pig and Whistle in SF has pasties but they are not fresh.
 
vavavroom said:
Chances are I ate their pasties just a few days ago. My favorite ones were from Pies of the World in Placerville. Pig and Whistle in SF has pasties but they are not fresh.
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Pies of the world is about an hour away - looks fantastic.
 
Jdeere562 said:
Those sound delicious.
Probably the closest I have had to them would be a Runza.
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There are lots of ethnic variants of stuffed bread pockets and meat pies. They all go back to the Middle Ages and even beyond to the ancient Romans and Egyptians when marketplaces sprung up offering food to go - fast food. No plates and utensils were needed. Maybe they wrapped the food in a few big leaves and handed it to the customer.
 
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Drei im Weggla for me please.

drei.jpg
 
A filling folded over with bread. SO appealing and basic.

One to avoid, however, are Jamaican pasties. They're easily >90% bread by weight. Once, I even went to a commercial Caribbean bakery in Queens. Their entire product line was substandard.

Food's gotta have have some nutritive balance. Carb content has come up on this board on occasion.
Also, I can't overlook that poorer workers' food from regions lacking refrigeration is going to be unacceptably greasy and likely refried.
Columbian restaurants have popped up around me and I cannot bring myself to order anything as it's all "bullet proof breaded belly bombers".

....not trying to be negative here...McDonald's don't serve broccoli either.
 
My last pasty was at a place called "Muldoon's" in Munising, in the UP. Had their "Traditional" one which contains ground beef, potato, onions, carrots, and rutabaga. Not bad, although a bit bland - nothing a little hot sauce can't fix.
 
if you ever find yourself in Springfield, Mo, There's a Pasty Truck (they also have a restaurant in one of the malls) That used to be one of the highlights of my annual trip to TX, when my brother lived don there. ( there's a Hotel I liked just down the street)
www.londoncallingpastycompany.com

London Calling Gourmet Pasty Company | cornish pasties for sale | Springfield, Springfield Township, Missouri, United States

London Calling Pasty Company offers the best in British comfort food. Grab a gourmet Cornish pasty from our food truck & dine on an authentic double-decker bus.
www.londoncallingpastycompany.com www.londoncallingpastycompany.com
had their "traditional", a Bangers and Mash, and The Chicken Tikka.. all wonderful.
*I've not be there since 2017*
this video shows the location I'm Familiar with, it was a fenced in lot, full of Food Trucks, just down from a couple Colleges.


looks like that location may be no more, but they have 2 brick & Mortar locations, a couple Pasty Trucks, and a Fish & Chip Truck now...
 
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