Cornish Pasties/ys

[Jay Foe]

I seem to remember being told that a proper Cornish Pasty should have meat one end and fruit at the other. Also the Fruit end had the initials of the 'owner' so that they could identify it down the tin mine. Did I imagine this?

[shaneystar]

THE Cornish pasty is the original hand-held convenience food with a pedigree that dates back to the Middle Ages. In the 13th and 14th centuries, pasties were filled with venison, beef, lamb, salmon and lampreys (eels), dressed with rich gravies and sweetened with dried fruits. It was a high table dish enjoyed almost exclusively by royalty and the upper classes.
The pasty became synonymous with Cornwall some 500 years later, thanks largely to the development of tin and copper mining in the county. Filled with beef, potatoes, onion and turnip, the pasty was a highly portable, well-insulated and nutritious meal ideally suited to the grueling conditions underground. Some miners would have a pasty with a sweet course at one end - containing apple, jam or treacle.

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There is as much folklore around the Cornish Pasty as there are recipe variations. One such tale said it was bad luck for fishermen to take a pasty on board a boat, A very famous photograph from the Nineteenth Century shows a group of tin miners at 'Crost Time', (meal time), tucking into very large pasties. Such pasties would have meat at one end and a fruit filling at the other.

Whatever the truth there is no doubt that the pasty formed an important part of many working Cornishman's diet, miners, farmers, or fishermen. With the decline of the mining industry in Cornwall many Cornishmen were forced to emigrate, as far a field as the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa taking their pasty recipe's with them.
And you most certainly could have them with fruit or jam at one end. My grandmother was a cornishwoman born and bred from Falmouth and she used to make the most wonderful Tiddy oggies.My Grandfathers pasties always had a pastry T on them and she used to do them for us as kids with our initials on them.

[pixi]

Hi jay foe, i saw a tv programme on sky that said proper cornish pasties had meat and fruit in them

hi IAP but how come there was no bits of pastry for the pixis, its not fair, im starving

[pimlico]

The idea of the 'handles' was that the miners could eat the pasty without getting the dirt from their hands on the food, which with tin and lead mining was probably very wise. They'd throw the handles away, which was where the pixie thing started.

[alan30]

Cornish Pasty or Oggie and Bedfordshire Clanger
The word "pasty" comes from "pasta". Originally made with hard pastry as a container, rather than something to be eaten, when it was taken down tin mines or out into the fields. The pastry forms a sealed pastry envelope. Originally containing almost anything the Cornish Pasty now contains seasoned chopped root vegetables and minced beef. The Bedfordshire Clanger is a variation on the same idea using a suet crust.  Meat at one end and jam at the other for a complete meal.