Foodie Friday: Piglet’s Not so Cornish Pasty

They say a way to a man’s good books is through his stomach. This is what I was banking on when I offered to make Mr. Piglet some Cornish pasties in return for his driving me down to Lagos once again on Saturday night to enjoy music at the Marina.

I mean, how hard could it be to make Cornish pasties? Besides, I don’t like him eating processed pies, which was his plan… And when I was younger (40 years ago), I used to cook dozens of pies every week to sell at the W.I. Friday market. Sadly, I lost the recipe when we moved so I blagged the recipe and cheated by buying prepackaged fresh pastry, which proved to be too thin, too stretchy and a total disaster.

I also precooked all the veg and meat. Another NO…NO… and as Mr. Piglet pointed out, I managed not only to use nearly every pot, pan and utensil we owned, but I got flour and gloop everywhere.

My pasties would not win any awards for presentation, especially as they all stuck to the baking tray and broke in half. However, Mr. P said they were delicious. Anyway, next time I make them, I will follow this recipe, make my own pastry, and not precook the meat and vegetables.

The History of the Humble Cornish Pasty

The Cornish pasty is best known as the portable meal of Cornish tin miners in the 18th and 19th centuries. The crimped edge wasn’t just decoration—it gave miners a “handle” they could grip with dirty, possibly arsenic-dusted hands and then toss away. Inside was usually a sturdy filling: beef, potato, swede (rutabaga), and onion. It was dense, warming, and enough to keep someone going through a long shift underground.

But it goes back further than the mines. There are records of pasties in England dating back to at least the 13th century, although those early versions were more of an upper-class dish, often featuring fancy fillings such as venison or even fruit. It wasn’t until Cornwall’s mining boom that the pasty became strongly tied to working-class life.

When Cornish miners emigrated—to South Africa, Mexico, the U.S., Australia—they took the pasty with them. You’ll still find versions in those places, often tweaked with local flavours.

Now, the Cornish Pasty has EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status (since 2011), meaning to be called a true “Cornish Pasty,” it must be made in Cornwall and follow the traditional recipe and shape.

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