Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty | Hacker News Reader

Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

bbc.com

39 pointsMiriamWeiner47 comments

One of the less horrible aspects of British colonialism I guess.

Being born a Cornishman I remember my father recounting a somewhat apocryphal tale of a grockle* visiting a pub and asking for chips (fries) with his pasty. The landlord looked at him somewhat aghast and asked him if he was sure? The tourist replies that he was hungry and always has chips with his pasty back home. A little while later the landlord returns with the customers lunch. A small crowd of locals had now appeared as the customer is presented with a a standard 12 inch long pasty occupying the whole plate and a basket of chips. Very sheepishly the customer eats the pasty and eventually the chips, pays and then proceeds to very slowly walk out moaning and groaning.

* Cornish (derogatory) term for a tourist

For those wanting to know the proper Cornish recipe it is simply pastry (rough puff style typically) and declining quantities of potato (shredded), swede (also shredded) and onion (shredded again). Topped with beef (preferably skirt) and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. The pastry is then folded up over the filling and crimped. In the oven for about an hour (for a proper sized pasty)

I have never sat down and worked it out but those bog old handmade pasties must be 2000 calories minimum, certainly it's a struggle to eat anything else... Perfect if you have to spend hours down a mine though.

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals, but those knurls of pastry are one of my favourite things.

Such a shame most pasties sold now are tiny, over seasoned and full of rubbish meat.

> full of rubbish meat

You're exaggerating the amount of meat in them ;-)

Most pasties from the supermarket appear to be veg seasoned with meat.

In deed, gives the pasty such a bad name.

A homemade pasty and a cup of tea was a Saturday evening ritual after getting back from the beach/out on the boat.

Grockle is a Devon term. Emmet is Cornish for ant and slang for tourist.

Don't remember ever hearing Emmet growing up on Scilly, but heard grockle plenty.

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals

Toxic metals..?

Mines are really dirty, and modern sanitation doesn't exist in them.

Having recently gone on a tour of coal mines in eastern Canada, the way it worked was that a miner would put a pasty in their clothes (to keep you and then it warm), take it out and eat it (without washing your hands) when lunchtime came, then threw the crimp end that was covered in dirt/muck to the mine rats.

Oh, ok. I assumed they would just avoid touching it directly, by wrapping it in a cloth or something.

EDIT: Like this one, actually :) http://cousinjackspastyco.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/IMG...

Cornwall's mining industry was mostly tin, but some other metals too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Cornwall_and_Devon

> Historically, tin and copper as well as a few other metals (e.g., arsenic, silver, and zinc) have been mined in Cornwall and Devon.

There's nowhere to wash your hands down a mine.

Interesting, that would explain why they ended up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (copper mines).

The crimp is like the crust of a pizza, the handle to hold your food if you will. If you didn't have gloves or access to running water and held your pizza by the crust with said hands, would you eat the crust?

Cornwall was home to a lot of mines: famously copper and rather a lot of arsenic as well.

I think the idea that the side crimp would be thrown away is pretty unlikely - there would be a fair few calories in it and the work done was backbreaking and demand every calorie possible.

Throwing food away is a very modern concept.

sigh - nearly all true 8) The pasty is widespread across the entire south west of England. To be fair the Cornish one is what most people have heard of (including most Brits).

Nominally the modern Cornish version has a side crimp and the Devon version is a top crimp ("dinosaur"). Then there is the Somerset (I live in Yeovil) pasty which cashes in on the real thing!

My mum was from near Dartmouth and my step mum is from St Awful. I'm in my late forties and have eaten a lot of pasties of all shapes and sizes. The home made beast that overhangs your plate is the best. The pastry should be made with lard ...

Erm... Mexico was not a British colony. It was Spanish and by 1825 when those miners arrived it was already an independent country.

I love pasties. The upper peninsula of Michigan used to be full of mom and pop pasty stands. I hope it still is, I haven't been there in years.

Yup, my grandfather worked the iron mines up in da UP and it is very much a thing my family still makes here and there.

Most of the moderately sized towns still have a pasty shop or two. (yum)

Every pasty I've ever had, contained rutabaga and/or turnips. Is that a Michigan thing, or more universal?

Universal. Sort of. The 'traditional' cornish pasty includes 'swedes', i.e., rutabaga (which can be mistaken for turnips, since they're both similar looking root vegetables, though they have different tastes and interior coloring). But there are many places that vary it up. If ever in Vegas, Phoenix, or Flagstaff, try one at the Cornish Pasty Company (it's on my to-do list basically every time I go to one of those places).

See the PGI entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty#Cornish_pasty

For a long time I thought you couldn't get swedes in Canada (for my mum's mashed swede and bacon recipe). Finally figured out that's what rutabaga is.

No idea why we call them swedes and rutabaga has been mentally stashed away - thanks. If you find swedes/rutabagas a bit boring texture-wise and a bit sweet on their own - try mixing with carrot.

The rutabagas that we get around here are little bit stronger and tougher than turnip, so it adds a nice zing. Don't buy more than one unless you're really planning on making a lot of pasties.

I grew up in southeastern Michigan, but we took family trips in da UP eh, and my mom likes to reverse engineer recipes. So when we got home from one trip, she whipped up a batch of perfectly authentic pasties from just guessing what was in them.

I wonder how far you could travel, eating nothing but the traditional "whatever's available, wrapped in the local bread" in each country that you visit.

I get them mail order sometimes from http://www.pasty.com/order.html in the UP when I want a fix.

Thanks for this. Really, thank you.

This is a funny coincidence. I'm eating this today in Guadalajara Mexico. Mine is filled with green mole and pork and my wife's is a mushroom one because she's vegetarian.

I get them once a week here in Santa Tere. Usually ham and cheese because it reminds me of a kolache.

Come to Cornwall for the pasties, beaches, and (tiny) burgeoning tech community

My family emigrated from Cornwall in the 1830s, would love to return someday.

And scones. And sea food. And coastline. And historic buildings.

I love Cornwall, just a shame it's so slow to get to.

The A303 tunnel under Stonehenge should eliminate one significant bottleneck, at least. As well as bury the ugly, noisy road that spoils our world heritage site!

https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/cip/a303-stonehenge...

We've been waiting an awful long time for that and "duel the 303" through Somerset.

Philp's (in Hayle) make some of the best commercially available pasties (my Cornish wife makes the very best, obvs).

Come for the pasties. Stay for the Lithium brines!

>(tiny) burgeoning tech community

Intrigued by this. Any recommended reading so I can get up to speed, please and thanks?

Nancy's Pasties in Butte, Montana. Ground beef, diced potatoes, a bit of salt and pepper. And that's it.

Ridiculously good, freeze really well, make for a great meal.

Of course, you have to live in Montana to get 'em. :D

I was expecting this to be about the empanada (although in hindsight that would be an odd title for an article about empanadas). It says here that the key difference is that an empanada's filling is cooked before being wrapped, whereas a paste's is not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paste_(pasty)#Differences_with...

And the pastry is different, but i suspect the pastry of both varies so much that wouldn't hold up empirically.

Empanadas are said to originate from the region of Galicia, Spain. Thus Celtiberian navigators sharing recipes with the Cornish isn't beyond the realms of pseudo-history.

Perhaps one could reverse engineer the article?

The Wikipedia entry on the Cornish Diaspora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_diaspora

I imagine that they'll be pasty inspired meals at these places. Mind you I don't think Gregg's was set up by Cornishman.

Should these people be referred to as Pastonistas?

Cousin Jacks Pasties or Marshals Pasties in Grass Valley, California - both recommended.

Like Hildalgo, Cornish miners worked the mines in the Auburn/Grass Valley/Nevada City area of California and brought the pasties with them too.

As I recall marshalls will also freeze/ship them by the dozen as well.

You can still get them in Butte, MT. The straight up meat and potato variety.

Still my favorite kind. I'm guessing we have a similar supplier...

On a side note, is anyone else disappointed that there was no picture of the "4.5m long pasty"?

Here's one

https://twitter.com/BBCCornwall/status/919835097184002051

Claudia's in San Mateo is great!

That was an exciting tip... except it looks like they have closed? Sorry if I'm the bearer of bad news.

They now distribute Claudia's pasties at Proper Cup locations. Can confirm their beef one is pretty legit!

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