That's a brilliant post - I would have said so on the list but a
moratorium came down on pasty-related postings! The "mole" really was
the small furry tunnelling version not truncated guacamole wasn't it?
many thanks
John A W Lock
>----Original Message----
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Date: 04/04/2012 12:16
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subj: Re: The role of the Cornish pasty in mining history
>
>Regarding pasties in Latin America, the place where you're most likely
to get a decent 'version' of the Cornish pasty is in Mexico, in the
state of Hidalgo where 2 twin silver mining communities, Real del Monte
and Pachuca, were settled by the Conrish from 1824. Real del Monte is a
Pueblo Magico (a heritage designation conferred for its significant
cultural links to Britain, particularly Cornwall), and the pasty has
taken on a huge significance in recent years. The 'pasty typico' is as
close to the traditional Cornish recipe as you'll get, expertly crimped
the Cornish way but minus the 'turnip' (swede) that was nbot obtainable
there and often with the addition of some chilli peppers, but there are
a wide variety of other fillings more suited to the Mexican palate,
including mole, refried beans, pineapple and rice pudding.
>
>There are pasty shops everywhere in Pachuca and Real del Monte where
more pasties are baked and eaten each day than in the whole of
Cornwall. The area's pride in the pasty and its rising commercial
importance has resulted in a very popular annual pasty festival
suppoted by the local and state authorities. Undoubtedly, the pasty is
one of the things that draws tourists to this area, along with the
vernacular architecture so different from anything else in Mexico, the
Cornish cemetery at Real del Monte, the mining museums and the superb
mining landscape complete with Cornish engine houses. Several of the
leading pasty makers have recently opened shops in Mexico City. This
hybridised 'paste' is probably a fusion of the type introduced by the
Cornish and the Latin American 'empanada', which I suspect people
posting here have seen in other parts of Latin America. They're
certainly very popular in Chile (containing a variety of ingredients),
but are more like a calzone, not crimped like a Cornish pasty and with
a rubbery crust, as opposed to the shortcrust pastry of a proper
Cornish pasty. More about pasties in Pachuca etc., can be found in my
recent book, Mining a Shared Heritage: Mexico's 'Little Cornwall' which
was launched in Cornwall last May in the presence of both the British
and the Mexican ambassadors.
>
>Pasty ingredients vary enormously from place to place, with those from
Moonta and Burra in S. Australia containing pumpkin, I guess because
turnip (swede) was also unobtainable there in the C19th, while the
Americans seem to like to try and sell you a pasty with a side salad,
mayo, tomato ketchup and a plastic knife and fork, hence the outageous
tab of 13 dollars and 31 cents I was charged for a take out pasty in
Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I thought it had been flown in specially from
Cornwall at that price!! Great that in Dublin we now have proper
Cornish pasties made in west Cornwall using local produce and flown
over to be baked here. And they're absolutely excellent!
>
>Sharron P. Schwartz
>Visting Fellow
>University of Glamorgan
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