Cornish Pasties

Delectable Cornish Pasties

As the author of contemporary foody books, The French Twist Series, I am accustomed to including tasty food and recipes in my novels. It was, therefore, a delight to include Cornish pasties in a historical, my new book, Lady of a Thousand Treasures. Proper Cornish pasties are particular to Cornwall, England’s far west county, though meat and potato hand pies are eaten in many different countries around the world. The word pasty sounds very much like the word pastry, though we tend to think of pastries as sweet and not savory. Both derive their names from Latinate words for paste—a mix of flour and water—and they can include other delectable combinations such as pasta. No wonder hungry schoolkids have been known to eat paste!

Cornish pasties were thought to be a perfect lunch for blue-collar workers, especially the coal miners of Cornwall, who descended into the coal pits and often could not come back up for lunch. They took their comestibles with them. I love the Agatha Christie television series starring her famous detective, Hercules Poirot, and Cornish pasties have a cameo toward the end of The Cornish Mystery episode when one of my favorite people, Chief Inspector Japp, has a nibble. A friend pointed out that Cornish pasties even appeared in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, “The Return of Malcolm Merriweather.”

I thought you might enjoy munching on one of these lovelies while reading my book or someone else’s, or watching Poirot or old returns, so I thought I’d include a recipe. The traditional pasties include uncooked meat and potatoes as well as turnips (they all bake together in the oven), but I adapted this for our family’s taste. If you like turnip, or carrots, or anything else, feel free to adapt this to your family’s tastes! With no further ado, here is my tweaked recipe. “Enjoy your meal” (British for Bon Appetit)!