Cornish Pasty

Cornish dialect ode to a pasty
I dearly luv a pasty,
A 'ot 'n' leaky wun,
Weth taties, mayt 'n' turmit,
Purs'ly 'n' honyun,
Un crus be made with su't,
'N' shaped like 'alf a moon,
Weth crinkly hedges, freshly baked,
E always gone too soon!

The origins of the pasty are largely unknown, although it is generally accepted that the modern form of the pasty originated from Cornwall. Tradition claims that the pasty was originally made as lunch for Cornish tin miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat.



In modern Cornwall the pasty industry has become a significant earner with wide varieties of pasties being made by pasty shops all over Cornwall. The traditional recipe however remains the same potato, onion, turnip (Swede), skirt beef (pasty beef) salt and pepper, being the main filling ingredients - short crust pastry being the normal covering.

There is an old Cornish saying that ' The Devil is afraid to come into Cornwall in case he is made into a Saint or put in a pie ' (not put in a pasty as is often misquoted).
Pasties are still very popular throughout Cornwall, Devon, Wales, North East England, other parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brittany. They are also popular in the northern United States. Pasties in these areas are usually hand-made and sold in bakeries or sometimes specialist pasty shops.

The word "oggy" in the popular Cornish rhyme "Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi" is thought to stem from Cornish dialect "hoggan", deriving from "hogen" the Cornish (Kernewek) word for pasty. When the pasties were ready for eating, the bal maidens at the mines would shout down the shaft "Oggy Oggy Oggy" and the miners would shout "Oi Oi Oi" meaning yes, or all right.

Pasty superstitions
A popular superstition throughout Cornwall is that a crust of the pasty should be left uneaten. Cornish miners would discard this last crust in order to appease the "Knockers", the spirits of dead miners believed to haunt the tin mines. Sailors and fisherman would likewise discard a crust to appease the spirits of dead mariners. These crusts were usually snapped up by seagulls, popularly held in West Country superstition to be the souls of dead mariners