Today I have been cooking Cornish pasties.

[Bill Sikes]

Well, this evening, actually. Two disadvantages:

1) They're best eaten fresh out of the oven.

2) I can smell them cooking from here.

They are made traditionally, so not what we might call "healthy eating".

[Betty Boop]

Bill Sikes;1316315 wrote: Well, this evening, actually. Two disadvantages:

1) They're best eaten fresh out of the oven.

2) I can smell them cooking from here.

They are made traditionally, so not what we might call "healthy eating".


I have to check out whether these are genuine Cornish Pasties

1) What did you put in them?

2) Which pastry did you use ?

3) Where is the crimp ?

[CARLA]

Can I have some...!! Please sounds so good.

[Bill Sikes]

Betty Boop;1316316 wrote: I have to check out whether these are genuine Cornish Pasties

1) What did you put in them?

2) Which pastry did you use ?

3) Where is the crimp ?

: D


OK, I'm game:

1) Flour, lard, water, potato, swede (rutabaga if you're of that persuasion), onion, meat, pepper, salt.

2) Short paste.

3) Over the top, as is traditional in home cooking.

[Bill Sikes]

CARLA;1316317 wrote: Can I have some...!! Please sounds so good.


You could have one, were you a) hungry and b) here. As it is, you could always make some! Boopiedoop will be along in a minute to harangue me for my crimp. If she does, I will say something. Stand by!

[Betty Boop]

Bill Sikes;1316318 wrote: OK, I'm game:

1) Flour, lard, water, potato, swede (rutabaga if you're of that persuasion), onion, meat, pepper, salt.

2) Short paste.

3) Over the top, as is traditional in home cooking.


Woo hoo way to go on the indgredients and the pastry! That's proper cornish!

However, the crimping should be along the side, just as the miners ate them

[Peter Lake]

Betty Boop;1316321 wrote: Woo hoo way to go on the indgredients and the pastry! That's proper cornish!

However, the crimping should be along the side, just as the miners ate them


I take it that you'll be up to speed of the history of that thick crimping on the sides for the miners?

[Bill Sikes]

Betty Boop;1316321 wrote: However, the crimping should be along the side, just as the miners ate them : D


Not necessarily, while I was involved in the "tailings" of the industry (although the majority of bakers seemed to make them with a side- or sort of halfway-house crimp, and I bet more were bought than home-made).



So: "I bet you put carrots and peas in yours!". Heh. That'll learn you!



I think that the crimp depends on whether you make or buy them - and if you make 'em, *who* makes them. I'm sure both methods have been used for ages, probably since they were invented.

[Betty Boop]

Bill Sikes;1316323 wrote: Not necessarily, while I was involved in the "tailings" of the industry (although the majority of bakers seemed to make them with a side- or sort of halfway-house crimp, and I bet more were bought than home-made).



So: "I bet you put carrots and peas in yours!". Heh. That'll learn you!



I think that the crimp depends on whether you make or buy them - and if you make 'em, *who* makes them. I'm sure both methods have been used for ages, probably since they were invented.


I always crimp on the side, just like my Mum did I'm not sure but I think even Theia and I have had this argument, seems that top and side crimp are slightly regional, Theia hails from a posher part of Cornwall than me :wah:

Our crimps were always on the side as that's the part of the tale that the miners held them by the crimp, ate the pasty (which would be savoury at one end and sweet at the other) and then throw away the crimped part as it would then be dirty. Shows my working class roots

[Bill Sikes]

Betty Boop;1316328 wrote: Iseems that top and side crimp are slightly regional, Theia hails from a posher part of Cornwall than me : wah:


Where, roughly? I am talking North Cornwall, and the Camborne-Redruth area.



Betty Boop;1316328 wrote: Our crimps were always on the side as that's the part of the tale that the miners held them by the crimp, ate the pasty (which would be savoury at one end and sweet at the other) and then throw away the crimped part as it would then be dirty.


I am not at all convinced by this - throw away good food, rather than prevent it getting "dirty"? Other tales tell of a "good" pasty being able to withstand being dropped down a mineshaft! That is absolute rubbish, unless of course - unless the shaft's only 3' deep, or the pasty has been made of re-inforced concrete. South Crofty was at over 300f when it was still working, and a pasty ain't going to survive a fraction of that!

Betty Boop;1316328 wrote: Shows my working class roots ; )


Everyone's got roots, my dear.

[Betty Boop]

Bill Sikes;1316331 wrote: Where, roughly? I am talking North Cornwall, and the Camborne-Redruth area.

I am not at all convinced by this - throw away good food, rather than prevent it getting "dirty"? Other tales tell of a "good" pasty being able to withstand being dropped down a mineshaft! That is absolute rubbish, unless of course - unless the shaft's only 3' deep, or the pasty has been made of re-inforced concrete. South Crofty was at over 300f when it was still working, and a pasty ain't going to survive a fraction of that!

Everyone's got roots, my dear.


I was born and bred fairly close to Land's End.

Just googling you can see variations, the side crimped pasty comes from a company near to me and the ones crimped along the top come from Padstow. So definately a regional variation, they be posh up Padstow way

I will look into the history of the miner and his throwing away the crimped part, it may well be just Cornish Folklore.

Attached files

[theia]

Betty Boop;1316328 wrote: I always crimp on the side, just like my Mum did I'm not sure but I think even Theia and I have had this argument, seems that top and side crimp are slightly regional, Theia hails from a posher part of Cornwall than me :wah:

Our crimps were always on the side as that's the part of the tale that the miners held them by the crimp, ate the pasty (which would be savoury at one end and sweet at the other) and then throw away the crimped part as it would then be dirty. Shows my working class roots


I'm only Cornish by "adoption" but I would agree with you, Betty, that it's a side crimp. That's the way all the local bakers make them and the homemade pasties I've had from the true Cornish have been side crimp.

[Bill Sikes]

Betty Boop;1316335 wrote: I was born and bred fairly close to Land's End.


That's a long way away!

Betty Boop;1316335 wrote: I will look into the history of the miner and his throwing away the crimped part, it may well be just Cornish Folklore.


There's lots and lots of "folklore", and I think it's going to be very, very difficult to find original truth. This problem is compounded in that there are probably many truths!

[Betty Boop]

theia;1316338 wrote: I'm only Cornish by "adoption" but I would agree with you, Betty, that it's a side crimp. That's the way all the local bakers make them and the homemade pasties I've had from the true Cornish have been side crimp.


Yay!!! Must be someone else I've had the conversation with then :wah:

Take a look at this The Cornish Pasty: The croust beetle -  pest of the pasty tree and its pasties it's been making me chuckle and it raises the poisoning part or dirty hands, hence why the miners would throw the crimp away.

[Bill Sikes]

theia;1316338 wrote: I would agree with you, Betty, that it's a side crimp. That's the way all the local bakers make them and the homemade pasties I've had from the true Cornish have been side crimp.


The variations are hugely entertaining - in Camborne/Redruth people tended to make them with a top crimp, but the bakers all sold them side crimped (and some of them sold pasties made with that brown sludge inside). A pub I went to had each "type". In North Cornwall, a baker in C- made "top" ones, which were very nice, and just up the road a more opportunistic lot sold "side" ones with very flakey pastry - pretty greasy, too. Used oil somehow, I suppose.

I make mine with not too much meat, but plenty of pepper. I don't eggwash them.

[Bill Sikes]

Betty Boop;1316342 wrote: it raises the poisoning part or dirty hands, hence why the miners would throw the crimp away. : )


Yeah, but... I still can't see it. A "tin bucket heated by a candle underneath it"? That ain't going to heat anything much, and why not cover the pail - it'd get full up with muck on the way else, or get tipped up, and that'd be that for your pasty. It's pretty unlikely to be dry underground, too. Your pasty would float in the pail! - or would it? You could rinse your hands. What about dirt in their tobacco, everyone used to smoke like chimneys, fags, roll-ups, pipes. I read on (Wikipaedia?) that a pasty "could be carried and keep the miner warm", or words to that effect. I don't know about all that. It's flippin' *hot* down there, and the most you want to wear is a boiler suit, and that's sometimes too much.