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Cornish Pasty Cookingstravaganza
Jan. 28th, 2007 07:44 pmYeah, Doug and I got it into our heads to make Cornish Pasties this weekend (two to eat, two to freeze for later).
I know I'm a total Merkin (family has been in California since the 1840s, when it was technically still part of Mexico), but the small town Ground Zero for the McGagin (that's bastardized from McGeoghan, I am pretty sure) family is a former gold mining town. Panning for gold, any momo could do. But in California, most of the gold worth mining is found in seams of quartz. That's hard-rock mining -- back-breaking work -- and the Cornish had something of a corner on the market during the Gold Rush.
Every woman in that town worth her salt had her own pasty recipe. Your womanhood was based upon your ability to make pasties. They didn't hold cookie bakesales (fuck that). To raise money for the hospital/elks/whathaveyou, you had pasty sales, where 50 women would all congregate at one house and make hundreds of those pasties to order. People in Grass Valley still fight about how to make the fuckers (pork only, or mixture of pork and beef? potatoes or turnips? parsley [only for those flashy Jezebels who think highly of themselves!]), and you never write the damned recipe down. Strictly mother-to-daughter transmission.
So, yeah. We made pasties. And no, I'm not giving you the recipe. Come to the house, I'll show you how to make 'em. But yes, we do use parsley. :p
I know I'm a total Merkin (family has been in California since the 1840s, when it was technically still part of Mexico), but the small town Ground Zero for the McGagin (that's bastardized from McGeoghan, I am pretty sure) family is a former gold mining town. Panning for gold, any momo could do. But in California, most of the gold worth mining is found in seams of quartz. That's hard-rock mining -- back-breaking work -- and the Cornish had something of a corner on the market during the Gold Rush.
Every woman in that town worth her salt had her own pasty recipe. Your womanhood was based upon your ability to make pasties. They didn't hold cookie bakesales (fuck that). To raise money for the hospital/elks/whathaveyou, you had pasty sales, where 50 women would all congregate at one house and make hundreds of those pasties to order. People in Grass Valley still fight about how to make the fuckers (pork only, or mixture of pork and beef? potatoes or turnips? parsley [only for those flashy Jezebels who think highly of themselves!]), and you never write the damned recipe down. Strictly mother-to-daughter transmission.
So, yeah. We made pasties. And no, I'm not giving you the recipe. Come to the house, I'll show you how to make 'em. But yes, we do use parsley. :p
