The Cornish Pasty |
The earliest pasty references are to Chretien de Troyes who was a late 12th-Century poet at the court of his patroness, Countess Marie de Champagne, between 1160-1172. His life dates are not known.
The works were Arthurian Romances set in what is now Cornwall, being titled:
Érec et Énide 1170 - this is the work of interest to Pasty Antiquarians
Cliges 1176
(above four links are to Wikipedia entries)
The complete works, in English, can be found HERE.
The original Érec et Énide, written in Olde Frenche in about 1170, can be found HERE. .....
5146 Lors a Guivrez un cofre overt, Then Guivrey opened a cupboard
5147 S'an fist fors treire deus pastez. And drew forth two pasties.
5148 "Amis," fet il, "or an tastez "Friends", quoth he,"come taste
5149 Un petit de cez pastez froiz! a little of these cold pasties!
5150 Vin a eve meslé bevroiz;
5151 J'an ai de buen sis baris plains;
The last two lines defeat me, but he seems to be inviting them to
drink some medlar wine, of which he has six barrels of good stuff.
(Translated by Mr Henry "Oggy" Trelissick, a former French scholar)
The word "pastez" was submitted to an international translation dictionary HERE .....
Here is what it provided .....
English pasty Italian pasticcio, tortino Spanish pastel ; tarta French pâté en croûte ; tourte Breton pastez ; tourtenn Catalan pastís Finnish pasteija ; piiras Welsh pastai
NB - "Pastez" is Breton for "pasty" - another Celtic link .....
"Pâté" = ground meat/meat paste
"en croute" - means "in crust"
There are other varieties of meat pastes cooked in pastry (rather like pork pies) in France which are cooked in baking dishes (Fr. - terrines)/bread tins. This could lead towards SPAM (Specially Processed American Meat) cooked in pastry ..... imagine, a SPAM-UK pasty!
However, some pâté en croute recipes sound delicious, chicken and beef in red wine with chestnuts .....
Michigan Technological University - Dept. of Humanities - History of the Pasty ***
The Independent (London) 13 Nov 2006 - Who invented the Cornish pasty?
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