Giant pasties

The Cornish Pasty knows that giant pasties are the stuff of legends - but not fairy tales - they really exist.

Besides the giant pasties described on this page, there are also the legendary Cornish rugby giant pasties. 

Some giant pasties are "specials" or "one-offs", like the two described here .....

1. Cornwall-online.co.uk/history/pasty.htm records that a group of Young Farmers made a pasty that was 32 feet long. It took 7 hours to make, in 1985. It is believed to have been beaten when Falmouth bakers made a bigger one in May 1999 for the town's first pasty festival (also, see here), however, there seems to be no record of its size. How did they bake them? Ed.
    
2. Fowey Royal Regatta also features a giant 8ft pasty crossing the river from Polruan to Fowey as part of the celebrations (see The Attractions of Fowey).

Our personal experience of everyday giant pasties is through Ron Dewdney pasties (pictured below) and considering the servings you get from them, they are excellent value.

These pasties have to be ordered the day before you want them.
 

A Ron Dewdney Extra Large pasty.
13" (33 cm) long and 3½ lb (1.5 kg). Price £4.35.

Young Anna with a Ron Dewdney Whopper
(mind you, she couldn't eat'n all in one go).

The Ron Dewdney Whopper compared with an ordinary Medium pasty.
21" (53.5 cm) long and 1 stone 1 lb (15 lbs, 6.8 kg). Price £14.50.
The Whopper can be pastry-lettered to mark special occasions .....

A point to bear in mind about the Whopper is that it is in proportion. This means that as well as being very long and wide, it is also very thick which adds a lot to its bulk. In other words, you get a lot for your money! The Extra Large pasty can feed three or four people - also good value for £4.35.

A Ron Dewdney Whopper cut open to show the filling.
Kept in the fridge, this fed us for days ..... in fact it fed six of us at least twice
.... the equivalent of about £24 in Medium pasties!

If the above description of the Ron Dewdney big pasties tempts you to try them, then this is the place you want .....

Ron Dewdney's shop opposite the St Levan Gate into Devonport Dockyard
at 202 Keyham Road, Devonport, Plymouth, PL1 2RD. Tel. 01752 563237.

Price list on the shop wall, 2 March 2009
All the items on the left-hand side are the range of pasties.

..... and the paper bag .....

The Ron Dewdney paper bag
- not that you would get a Whopper in'n!

The Ron Dewdney Whopper is certainly a famous Plymouth pasty - perhaps it was his forebears who were involved in the famous Plymouth Pasty of 1510?

BBC News 18 March 2009: Giant pasty to tempt travellers
A giant pasty is being used in a competition for commuters at Paddington station where the 80,000 travellers each day are being asked to guess the weight of the pasty. It is part of a campaign by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership to promote the Looe and Tamar Valley lines.

Once again, The Cornish Pasty web site brings you only the facts about pasties .....

Acknowledgements - Grateful thanks to the staff of Ron Dewdney for their co-operation in the writing of this web page from The Cornish Pasty.