My Pasty (Pass–tee) Recipe

According to Wikipedia –
Pronounced: Pass – Tee

“The origins of the pasty are largely unknown, although it is generally accepted that the modern form of the pasty originated in 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 Tradition claims that the pasty was originally made as lunch (‘croust’ or ‘crib’ in the Cornish language) for Cornish tin miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat.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.^[5] Pasties were also popular with farmers and labourers, particularly in the North East of England, also a mining region.

A researcher in Devon found a reference to a pasty in a 16th century document, and argued that this showed the pasty originally came from Devon, although this was refuted by Cornish historians claiming that evidence for the pasty’s roots in Cornwall go back millennia. The earliest known recipe for a Cornish pasty is dated 1746, and is held by the Cornwall Records Office in Truro, Cornwall.^[9]^[10] Outside Britain, pasties were generally brought to new regions by Cornish miners, and this strengthens the argument that pasties are a Cornish invention.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14] It was also said by miners in the Butte, Montana, USA area, that a pasty was “as welcome as a letter from ‘ome (home).”^[15]

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In some of these areas, pasties are a significant tourist attraction, including an annual Pasty Fest in Calumet, Michigan in early July. Pasties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have a particularly unusual history, as a small influx of Finnish immigrants followed the Cornish miners in 1864. These Finns (and many other ethnic groups) adopted the pasty for use in the Copper Country copper mines. About 30 years later, a much larger flood of Finnish immigrants found their countrymen baking pasties. The pasty has become strongly associated with Finnish culture in this area, and in the culturally similar Iron Range in northern Minnesota.^[12] Finnish immigrants may also have been familiar with Karjalanpiirakat, a kind of pasty from the Karelian region.”
Now that that is out of the way… how do you make this tasty, pasty?

My Recipe:
3 lbs potatoes, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
2 cups onions, diced (or 1/2 cup of a big Georgia onion)
2 lbs of ground chuck
salt and pepper
(Rutabagas – you can add 2 cups diced if you want – I hate rutabagas, so I leave them out!)
Pie crust enough for 1 dozen (the recipe I use make 1/2 doz at a time) or I buy frozen pie crust!
Mix potatoes, carrots, onions, meat and salt and pepper in a giant bowl – DO NOT BROWN MEAT!
Take about a dozen 4 oz. pie crust dough balls that have been warmed to room temperature. Roll each into 10″ oval. Put 1 cup (or a little more) pasty filling on dough sheet. Pull over the tops and crimp the edges. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Dough lots of dough

Jeff dicing potatoes (3 lbs is a lot of dicing)

Pasties ready to go into the oven

Done!

Top with ketchup and ENJOY! They also go great with beer!

Can also be mushed so babies can eat them too!