
Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty - MiriamWeiner
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180520-a-piece-of-britain-lost-in-mexico
======
danburbridge
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.

~~~
icebraining
_The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating
the toxic metals_

Toxic metals..?

~~~
zdw
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.

~~~
icebraining
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...](http://cousinjackspastyco.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/09/IMG_20120916_152233.jpg)

------
KC8ZKF
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.

~~~
cschmidt
I get them mail order sometimes from
[http://www.pasty.com/order.html](http://www.pasty.com/order.html) in the UP
when I want a fix.

~~~
KC8ZKF
Thanks for this. Really, thank you.

------
armandososa
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.

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

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

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

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

~~~
Reason077
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...](https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/cip/a303-stonehenge/)

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

------
falcolas
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

------
twic
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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paste_\(pasty\)#Differences_with_empanadas)

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

~~~
petecox
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.

------
zeristor
Perhaps one could reverse engineer the article?

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

------
ptrott2017
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.

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

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

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

------
asdf1234tx
On a side note, is anyone else disappointed that there was no picture of the
"4.5m long pasty"?

~~~
acamargob
Here's one

[https://twitter.com/BBCCornwall/status/919835097184002051](https://twitter.com/BBCCornwall/status/919835097184002051)

------
confounded
Claudia's in San Mateo is great!

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

