Cornish pasties originated as portable lunches for tin miners, fishermen and farmers to take to work. One theory for the Cornish pasty’s shape is the tin miners threw away the thick, wide pastry edges after eating the rest of their meal, to avoid being poisoned by tin or copper dust from their fingers.
According to the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) status, a real Cornish pasty should be made from beef (preferably skirt steak), onions, potatoes and swede (rutabaga) and then somewhat controversially folded into a “D” shape and crimped on the edge. The use of carrot in a traditional Cornish pasty is frowned upon, though it does appear regularly in many recipes.
Whilst the PGI rules state that a Cornish pasty must be a “D” shape, with crimping along the edge known as ‘side-crimping’, crimping is variable within Cornwall. Some advocate a side crimp while others maintain that a top crimp is more authentic with photos dating back to the late 19th century of miners holding a ‘top-crimped’ pasty, yet those Cornish bakers who favour this method now find that they cannot legally call their pasties “Cornish”. Many say that the top crimped is from the neighbouring county Devon.
Here at Sloane’s, based in Bangkok, we won’t be calling our pasties Cornish and although many may disagree, we prefer the top crimping style and feel it holds the filling in better. Other than that we will be following the traditional recipe by using skirt steak from our high-welfare local Angus and Wagyu beef along with swede – as without these flavours, it’s just not quite right. So with being 10,000km away from Cornwall and our preference for top crimping, PGI status isn’t possible, so it’s just a ‘Corn..ish’ pasty!
