TRIP TO THE UK - ABOUT CORNISH PASTY..

Last weekend I went to Coventry, England to visit my friends Ritaban and Aruneema. The photos from the trip have been posted into the following blog -

http://triptoengland2005nov.blogspot.com/

In this post here, I will cover a typical English food I had there - namely Cornish Pasty. As is evident from the name, this dish had its origin in the county of Cornwall located in the extreme south western peninsula of the British Isles.

It is an oven-cooked pastry case traditionally filled with diced meat—nowadays beef mince (ground beef) or steak. It has a semicircular shape, caused by folding a circular pastry sheet over the filling. One edge is crimped to form a seal. The filling of a Cornish Pasty has evolved over the years to include all kinds of combinations - in fact it is jokingly said that even the Devil fears to enter Cornwall because he might end up as a Cornish Pasty filling himself!

Tradition claims that it was originally made as lunch for Cornish miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat. The story goes that, covered in dirt from head to foot, they could hold the pasty by the folded crust and eat the rest of the pasty without touching it, discarding the dirty pastry. Additionally, the dense, folded pasty stayed hot until lunchtime and, when carried close to the body, helped the miner stay warm.

Tradition also has it that the original pasties contained meat and vegetables in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, in order to give the hard-working men 'two courses'. Cornish housewives also marked their husband's initials on the left-hand side of the pastry casing, in order to avoid confusion at lunchtime. This was particularly useful when a miner wished to save a corner of his pasty until later.

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the Cornish Pasty for it was perfect,quick 'takeaway lunch' - it was filling, hot, tasty and not messy. I guess the satisfaction must have been very visible on my face because another tourist happenned to come down where I had got hold of a hamburger in the Warwick Castle. It took a clooser look for her to realise that it was a not a hamburger but a very traditional 'takeaway' food I was having - a Cornish Pasty :-)

That's all for now...keep tuned for more..