Pasties are savory, handheld pies that originated in Cornwall, England. They were popular with miners throughout the 19th and 20th centuries all over the United States, including here in Utah. They consist of a flaky pastry crust and are filled with meat, vegetables, and seasonings.
At The Dough Miner in Salt Lake City, pasties are our specialty, and they are made from scratch using traditional methods and high-quality ingredients. Our pasties are filled, hand-crimped, and baked until they are golden brown and flaky.
We fill our pasties with a variety of fresh ingredients. Our Classic Pasty is filled with rib eye and sirloin steak with potatoes, carrots, turnips, and onion made in the classic Cornish style, while our Miner’s Breakfast Pasty contains scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, and scallions. We offer a rotating selection of pasties, so be sure to check our menu to see what we’re cooking up now! We even offer our pasties in frozen 3-packs to-go that you can reheat at home.
We take pride in our pasties, offering a variety of flavors and fillings to suit every taste. Whether you're looking for a classic steak pasty or a more adventurous option, The Dough Miner has something for everyone.
With strong ties to Cornwall, England, the pasty (pronounced pass-tee not paste-tee) is a folded pastry (often known as a hand pie) traditionally filled with a savory mix of meat and veggies. Dating all the way back to 1150, the pasty gained popularity with miners because it was easy to bring into the mines, kept them full throughout the long work days, and stayed warm for long periods of time.
LOCAL TIES
As miners began leaving Cornwall in the 1840’s, looking for more work in other parts of the world, they took the tradition of pasties with them. This would particularly become the case in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota and right here in the silver mines of Park City. Park City’s mines fueled a booming economy and the railroads opened the door for waves of immigrants from all over the world – bringing new styles of food with them. By 1871, the pasty had arrived in Utah.
PASTY LORE
Miners are traditionally a superstitious group, and rightfully so, as their work is often dangerous. “Knockers” or “Tommyknockers” were small gnome-like creatures who lived in the mines and were known for playing practical jokes and causing mischief, such as stealing miners’ tools or lunches. However, they could also be helpful, ‘knocking’ on the mine walls to lead toward rich veins or warn of danger. To stay in the Tommyknockers’ good graces, miners would often toss the crust or last bite of their pasties into the mines as a peace offering.
A PASSION FOR PASTIES
We believe the same qualities that made the pasty popular with miners will make them equally as successful at fueling your mountain adventures – easily portable, satisfyingly filling and, of course, delicious! Here at the Dough Miner, you’ll find classic pasties along with creative flavor combinations, made from scratch crusts and quality ingredients. From keeping you warm on the ski slopes to making the perfect lunch on the hiking trail, we’re excited to bring the pasty back to Utah.
A miner's wife would carve her husband's initials into his Cornish pasty, so that he was able to distinguish his from all the others (how cute is that!) A good pasty could even survive being dropped down a mine shaft!
The traditional recipe for the pasty filling is beef with potato, onion and swede, which when cooked together forms a rich gravy, all sealed in its own packet! As meat was much more expensive in the 17th and 18th centuries, its presence was scarce and so pasties traditionally contained much more vegetable than today.
Arsenic is often present in tin ore and thus the crust, so the story goes, acted like a handle. This allowed miners to eat the rest of the pasty without fear of contamination, the crust then being thrown away. However, due to a number of old pictures and photographs, this belief may well be a myth.
Since 2011, the Cornish Pasty has enjoyed protected status under Protected Food Names legislation; so only a pasty made to a specific recipe in Cornwall can be called a “Cornish Pasty”.
Use a firm waxy potato such as Maris Peer or Wilja. A floury potato will disintegrate on cooking. Crimping is one of the secrets to a true Cornish pasty. A good hand crimp is usually a sign of a good handmade pasty.
American pasties are the American equivalent to Cornish pasties. The border between Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is delineated by a line of pasty shops.
There will always be great debate about the origin of the pasty, but one easy way to detect the Devon pasty from the Cornish is that the Devon pasty has a top-crimp and is oval in shape, whereas the Cornish pasty is semi-circular and side-crimped along the curve.
But what you might not know is just how many calories are in a Cornish pasty. And how other various food groups, healthy or otherwise, match up to that. Apparently a traditional large pasty from the Cornish Pasty Company contains 774 calories and 45g of fat.
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