We're in St Agnes, Cornwall, and as you can see,
I've already got my Cornish pasty right here.
It's robust enough not to break,
and, actually, being so portable is the reason
why pasties are so beloved here in Cornwall.
It was because miners would take them
down the mine with them to have for lunch.
The times have changed, the mines have closed,
but the pasties have stayed.
How did they do it?
We're here to find out.
The key to keeping a pasty together
when it's filled to the brim
is all about the pastry itself.
This type of pastry is neither puff nor short crust.
It's called rough crust.
Made with flour, lard, butter, salt, and water,
rough crust is kind of the best of both worlds.
This pastry has a slight flakiness to it,
which makes it more flexible than short crust.
But since the butter and the dough
are mixed together and not laminated,
there aren't as many delicate layers as in a puff pastry.
But don't worry, I didn't say
we wouldn't get any layers at all.
Some will still be there.
This is because fresh dough is folded over
with leftover pastry from the day before
to create some air.
Nigel Hudson: So, you see there how
the pastry is getting thinner?
And we'll go back and forward
until we get the right thickness.
Claudia: Which is about this one?
Nigel: Yes, for the pasty rounds themselves.
So, you create the folds in the pastry
to create some air in the process,
to give that rough puff texture.
We don't want to go to a full puff pastry,
because it wouldn't hold the contents very well.
But just to make the pastry a bit lighter
than a short-crust pastry.
Claudia: Yeah, because that will break.
Which can feel very hard.
Claudia: Is that a custom tool that you have?
Nigel: I will not tell you the code
to the safe where this goes,
because without this, we can't make pasties.
This is a 7 1/2-inch pasty ring.
This is a medium pasty.
Claudia: And you got it handmade?
It's custom-made for you?
Yes, yes.
And this is the large pasty ring.
That's the 9-inch pasty ring.
Claudia: OK.
It looks like a tool you would use in an Olympic sport.
What's that sport?
Yes, it could be. Curling!
Claudia: Curling.
Is it sharp?
Nigel: Not particularly.
We have had this one sharpened recently.
Claudia: The person who sharpens this
is somebody you trust.
Nigel: Yes, yes.
Claudia: 'Cause you have to give this away.
Nigel: Yes. He has to sign for it.
Claudia: A robust, but flaky rough crust
is ready to meet with its other half, the filling.
We use a very scientific measuring device
called a cup.
Claudia: All of the fillings are humble ingredients
like potatoes and onions.
And their usage goes hand in hand
with the humble origins of the Cornish pasty itself.
Each ingredient is also there
to aid the portable nature of the pasty.
Potatoes are waxy and keep their shape when baked;
swede, or turnip in Cornish, adds sweetness —
I'm told using carrots is sacrilege —
onions and seasoning add flavor;
and beef and butter provide the juices
to create a nice gravy, as they say around here.
At St Agnes Bakery,
they use a cut of beef called rump skirt.
Nigel: Rump skirt is the quality end
of the skirt part of the animal.
There's only a few kilograms per carcass.
It's about twice the cost of the ordinary skirt,
but what you get is a much more luxurious product.
It's a lot leaner, it's a lot juicier.
It's less gristly.
And earlier you did mention the M word.
We do not use minced meat.
That, minced meat,
there have people who've not got out
of the building alive for using the M word.
Claudia: All right. Bye, I'm leaving now.
You may have noticed that ingredients are all added raw.
This is a rule when making Cornish pasty.
Why? Because they will cook all together
in their own juices when the pasty is baked,
and since the rough crust will hold them tight,
nothing will get out until you give a bite.
It's almost time to close the pasties,
and there is a specific technique to do it.
It's called crimping.
Each crimper seals the edges of the pasty
by pinching it at one side.
Tradition calls for 20 crimps.
Nigel: Each crimper's style is different.
Each crimp is different.
And when we're cooking the pasties,
you can sort of tell, oh, that's a Jenny crimp,
that's Rebecca's crimp.
And also there's a difference
between the right- and left-handed people,
because the right-handed people
end up crimping, end on the left;
the left-handed people end on the right.
Claudia: Oh, OK. Nigel: Yeah.
Claudia: So you're right-handed?
Nigel: Yes, yes.
And they all have a different style
for ending the pasties, too.
Claudia: That's where I come in.
No crimping experience whatsoever,
only walking in knowing that I'm right-handed.
What's my style going to be?
Sue Drew: Take the ends.
Claudia: Both ends? Sue: Yeah.
Claudia: Oh, that's loaded!
God! There's a lot of stuffing.
Sue: It's OK. And then —
Claudia: Just try and close it?
Sue: Try to close the other end, yeah.
Claudia: OK. Oh, God, it's falling off the side.
Sue: It's OK, just hold it up.
Pull it over.
Claudia: Yeah.
Sue: And then you keep pulling it over
as you go along.
Claudia: God. All right.
So like that?
Sue: Yes. That looks nice, actually.
It's better than mine. [laughs]
Claudia: Who would have said?
Sue: And then you just keep going.
Claudia: Oh, yeah, that's not looking as nice.
Oh, you're not saying anything.
That means I'm not doing it right. [laughs]
Sue: No, it's fine.
It's just, we do it that way,
and you're kind of doing it backwards.
Claudia: Oh, really?
Sue: Because we started like this. That's it.
Claudia: Oh, oh, OK.
I always start off well, and then I kind of
just get lost along the way.
It's all right, so it has different personalities.
I'm going to pose with my wonderful creation.
So, why do you do a side crimp, then?
So the original Cornish pasty,
like, back in the,
well, many, many years ago,
when the miners were working in the mines,
was half sweet,
maybe jam,
and half veg.
Claudia: Oh, that's interesting.
So they used to take them down the mines with them,
and because their hands were dirty,
they would hold this.
Claudia: They hold the crimp.
Sue: To eat the pasty, and then leave that bit.
Claudia: Nice and crimped,
the pasties are finished with a glaze of oat milk
and cow's milk for extra crunch.
Cornish pasties bake slowly for about one hour
to maximize the flavors coming together.
Nigel: The bakery's been here since 1907,
and there's actually two mine shafts
directly under the bakery building itself.
Oh, really? Wow!
So it's not —
So it has been built on top of it.
Yes, so it's been built on top of two mine shafts.
Oh! All right, shall we have a go?
OK.
Cheers to you.
So, which way do you eat it?
Whichever way it fits in your mouth.
Claudia: Mm.
Nigel: As they used to say before they called
the men who worked in the mines
to let them know the pasties were ready,
oggy, oggy, oggy!
I really like this pastry.
It's nice and soft, actually, on the inside,
but flaky on the outside.
Nigel: That's right, yeah.
Claudia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice hint of pepper in there.
The meat is very good.
Yeah, that definitely doesn't taste like the M word.
It doesn't taste like minced meat.
Nigel: No, no, we don't use the M word.
How long would you wait to eat them?
Personally, I prefer a pasty
that's been out of the oven for about 45 minutes.
They'll stay warm for ages, and I like it
so there's just a bit of warmth coming through.
Not too hot.
You get all the flavor and the depth of the flavor then.
So when you take your pasty, make sure it's been
out of the oven for about 45 minutes.