A pasty is a filled pastry case, commonly associated with Cornwall, United Kingdom. It differs from a pie as it is made by placing the filling on a flat pastry shape, usually a circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge to form a seal. The result is a raised semicircular package. The traditional Cornish pasty is filled with diced meat, sliced potato and onion, and baked. Pasties with many different fillings are made; some shops specialise in selling all sorts of pasties.
The origins of the pasty are largely unknown. It is generally accepted that the pasty (as we know it today), originates from Cornwall. Tradition claims that the pasty was originally made as lunch ('croust' or 'crib' in the Cornish language) for Cornish tin miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat. The story goes that, covered in dirt from head to foot (including some arsenic often found with tin), they could hold the pasty by the folded crust and eat the rest without touching it, discarding the dirty pastry. The pastry they threw away was supposed to appease the knockers, capricious spirits in the mines who might otherwise lead miners into danger. A related tradition holds that it is bad luck for fishermen to take pasties to sea. Pasties were also popular with farmers and labourers.
The pasty's dense, folded pastry could stay warm for 8 to 10 hours and, when carried close to the body, could help the miners stay warm. In such pasties, the meat and each vegetable would each have its own pastry "compartment," separated by a pastry partition. Traditional bakers in former mining towns will still bake pasties with fillings to order, marking the customer's initials with raised pastry. This practice was started because the miners used to eat part of their pasty for breakfast and leave the remainder for lunch; the initials enabled them to find their own pasties. Some mines kept large ovens to keep the pasties warm until mealtime. It is said that a good pasty should be strong enough to endure being dropped down a mine shaft.
Pasties are still very popular throughout Devon, Cornwall, Wales, other parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brittany. Pasties in these areas are usually hand-made and sold in bakeries or sometimes specialist pasty shops. Mass produced pasties, quite different from traditional Cornish pasties, are sold in supermarkets throughout the United Kingdom. Several pasty shop chains have also opened up in recent years, selling pasties better than the mass-produced ones with a variety of fillings. Pasties are often eaten on the move like other fast foods.
While there are no completely standard pasty ingredients, the traditional recipe includes diced steak, finely sliced onion, and potato. Other common ingredients include swede (rutabaga, called yellow turnip in Cornwall) and sometimes parsley. The presence of carrot in a pasty is sometimes considered an indication of inferior quality in Cornwall, although it has become common in American pasties. Traditionally skirt steak is used, although sometimes other cuts can be found. Pasties made with beef mince (ground beef) are also common and are often sold alongside steak pasties as a cheaper alternative. While meat is a common ingredient in modern pasty recipes, it was a luxury for many 19th century Cornish miners, so traditional pasties usually include many more vegetables than meat.
Pasty ingredients are usually seasoned with salt and pepper, depending on individual taste. There is a theory that Cornish pasties may have originally contained two courses: meat and vegetables at one end, and fruit (such as apples, plums, or cherries) at the other. This may reflect the pasty's use as a complete meal for miners, but it is disputed that the fruit ingredients could survive the lengthy baking process required for the meat. It is possible that instead a small amount of jam was inserted under the crimp at one end of the pasty while it was still hot. No two-course pasties are commercially produced in Cornwall today. Pork and apple pasties are readily available in shops throughout Cornwall, albeit with the ingredients, including an apple flavoured sauce, mixed together throughout the pasty, as well as sweet pasties with ingredients such as apple and fig or chocolate and banana, which are common in some areas of Cornwall.
Pasties were traditionally eaten as a complete meal, with the vegetable and meat juices acting as a form of gravy. Nowadays, pasties are sometimes served with chips and/or gravy or ketchup as a dressing.
Pasties are the subject of various competitions and festivals. In Fowey, Cornwall a large pasty is paraded through the streets during regatta week. It is 6 ft (1.8 m) long and is so heavy that it needs to be carried by four men - normally in fancy dress. Similarly, a giant pasty is lifted over the goal posts of the Cornish rugby team when they play an important match. Calumet, Michigan holds "Pasty Fest" each summer to celebrate the regionally famous food. Although there is no official world record for the largest pasty, in 1985 a group of Young Farmers in Cornwall spent 7 hours making a pasty over 32 ft (9.8 m) long. This was believed to have been beaten in 1999 when bakers in Falmouth made their own giant pasty during the town's first ever pasty festival.
