chapter XXV - mamon wellman cooks 18

tiddy oggies 

I was asked this week, (as I often am when people find out I am a chef) what is my favourite food, what would be my last meal if I had to choose one. No contest, it would be my mother's pasty. 

This was her piece de resistance, this was her signiture dish if you will. So what better dish to end this series of Mamon Wellman cooks, than with it?

Not pasty related, but this pic, was taken on one of our last ever trips out together and remains one of my favourites of her. It was her last trip out to Paignton and those that knew her will, I am sure, agree that this pic just sums her up in one

Paignton was a place mum just loved.

She loved the penny arcades. There were machines there that gave out tickets, that you collected and exchanged them for prizes. You had to spend £10 to get something worth a fraction of that amount, but she loved it. I managed find a machine that I could get ticket upon ticket out of, mum would sit on her walker and watch in awe and excitement as tickets just spewed out. And when she wasn't looking I would cheat and just buy some extra tickets, to ensure we got a prize or prizes worth having. In fact one time I even bribed the lady behind the prize counter (without mum knowing of course) to ensure mum got something she wanted ;-) 

But back to pasties. They were usually a Saturday dinner thing, mum made pasties on Saturday afternoon's when she had the extra time. They were huge! She always made them extra, extra big. Each end would always easily overhang our largest dinner plates; essentially the creator of the 'foot long' pasty ;-)

talking of dinner plates ..... 
All our crockery and cutlery growing up were non matching, odds and sods. All bought, I am guessing from jumble sales etc that she loved going to, to get a bargain or two. A factor, that when I started my apprenticeship started to bug me more and more (the odds and sods not her jumble sale mania)

The fact that nothing matched bugged the hell out of me. So with my first ever full time pay packet, I bought her a matching set of crockery; soup/cereal bowls, side plates, main plates etc. They had a brown pattern on them. I bought them (I have no idea from where) in 1977, mum still had them when she passed away 30+ years later and were given to one of her grandson's, one of my nephews. So even now they are being put to good use. 

I bought them so she could do away finally with all the mis-matched stuff and have a nice day to day set. well that was my intention, mum however decided that they would be 'kept for best' and bought a small Welsh dresser to display them on and in! God bless her. 

history of the pasty

But back to pasties. Cornish or Devonshire? The debate of it's origins will continue and will rage for decades to come I have no doubt. But in reality and fact many areas of the UK could lay claim to it. The Scottish version is called a bridie or forfar bridie.

• the patron saint of the pasty is St Carantoc, a 6th century monk/abbot who was actually from Wales
• the Cornish pasty has now been given Protected Geographical Status (like Champagne). Meaning only pasties made in Cornwall can be called Cornish Pasties 
• the Cornish pasties are crimped on the side, the Devonshire pasty is crimped on the top
• the reason the Cornish crimp is on the side, is that originally it was created as a meal for the (tin?) miners. The crimp was not meant to be eaten, but was a means for the miner to hold the pasty with their dirty hands
• the crimp was discarded and left for "the knockers" - spirits said to inhabit the mines 
• the initials of the miner were often placed in pastry at one end of the pasty, so they knew who's was who's come lunchtime
• the Cornish pasty was originally more than likely made with fish and not meat, because fish was more easily obtained and cheaper
• the Cornish pasty was said to originally be savoury at one end (meat or fish) and sweet at the other (apple?) so the miner had a main course and dessert all in one 
• the Cornish pasty meat was more likely to have been lamb rather than beef 
• it is said a true Cornish pasty should contain meat, potato, onion and swede (or carrot) and arguments abound it. (I say given it was a peasants meal, originally it would contain whatever was available and seasonal)
• the Cornish pasty is colloqually known as an "oggy" or "tiddy oggy"
• the original Cornish name for a pasty is "hoggan" from which oggy is derived 
• the word pasty is derived from pastry, which is derived from paste
• pasties should be eaten from end to end (not across like a corn cob) this way if it was only partly eaten the initials remained (which is a great idea but goes against the idea of for the crimp on the side : see above)
• pasties go back as far as the 13th century, when the pastry was likely inedible and no more than a vessal in which to cook the food. (logical when you think about it, as it wouldnt have been anything more than flour and water or a paste : see above
• a true Cornish pasty should be made with short pastry (no 17th century miner's wife would spend hours making puff pastry)
• the edible pastry wouldn't have come into being until the 15th century, when it was introduced from Italy, via France
• puff pastry was not created until the 17th century in France (probably by Chef Claude Gelee)
• Samuel Pepy's mentions pasties in his diaries in the 1660's
• Shakespeare also was not immune to mentioning them - in act 1 of The Merry Wives of Windsor he wrote "come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner, come gentleman, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness"
• it is considered to take a pasty onboard a ship (along with a banana) 

mum's pasties
I'm sure we all in the West Country say it, we all reckon it is our mum that makes the best pasties, but my mother did made the best pasties! Huge, hot, crispy pastry, succulent, moist filling and dee-lish-us, especially with a good splattering of Heinz tomato ketchup. Everyone will of course tell you the best pasties are made with shaved steak, home madee pastry etc etc WRONG! The best pasties are made with love!!

When she used to travel out to New Zealand to see me, pasties were always on the menu within days of her arrival. Also the last meal she cooked for me before she left to return to the UK. She would always make me half a dozen extra, to freeze down and enjoy through out the year. The last one she ever made me out there, I had up until the day I finally sold up, left NZ and returned to the UK when she fell ill. I always kept the last one in the freezer until a week or so until I knew she was coming back out to New Zealand. 

It was also the last meal she ever cooked for me before passing away. Mum was frail and ill, but insisted on making them. All be it with my help. It is a bitter sweet memory that will stay with me for the rest of my days. So here then, is her simple recipe .

R.I.P Mum, we miss your pasties but we miss you oh so much more

                                                                                                                                           

recipe - pasties a la mamon

500 gm   puff pastry (ready made)

001 cup  steak mince

002 cup  diced potatoes 
1/4  cup  diced onion
001 pc    egg
               lots of love 

recipe - method of preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. 

Wash, peel and wash the potatoes and cut into small dice (approx the size of a pea). Dice the onion to the same size and combine with the potato in a large bowl. Break up and sprinkle in the mince and combine. Season well with salt and pepper. 

Divide the pastry into four even pieces and roll out evenly. The pastry should be not too thin and the shape roughly circular. Divide the mixture evenly between the pastry rounds, placing it on one half. and leaving a two inch edge free

Brush the edges with the beaten egg, fold the empty pastry half over the mix and crimp the pastry to seal. Place onto a lightly buttered baking tray, cut a small slit in the centre of each pasty and open it up to form a small hole. Brush all over with the remaining beaten eggs. Place into the oven and bake for approx. 45 minutes until the pastry is cooked and golden brown, and the potato is soft when the pastry is pierced with a small pointed knife. 

Serve with generous amounts of love and ketchup ;-)