The Cornish Pasty |
Devon pasties
Now, boy, 'ere's a funny thing about pasties .....
Having lived in Plymouth, Devon, for over 42 years, I have only recently taken an interest in the Proper Devon Pasty - I must have seen them and eaten them but they just never registered with me!
I've had plenty of good local pasties in that time that were local-made and very fine they are, too. The famous Plymouth-based Ivor Dewdney business advertises their pasties as "Cornish" and follow the side crimping style although they are not "curly-crimped .....
An Ivor Dewdney® pasty, a famous Plymouth pasty name
with a side crust, not a top crimp!
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Ivor Dewdney - The same pasty as shown above but with its trademark "Ivor Dewdney®" bag |
Of course, having written the above, I found a Proper Devon Pasty the next day - in Plymouth! It was just a baby one, on offer at a buffet!
Here's a bigger one, although, again, not "curly-crimped" .....
This pasty was bought in Ashburton - 6 inches / 150 mm long
- this style of Devon top crimp is well shown
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| The pasty with its bag from The Ashburton Delicatessen |
End view of the the pasty from The Ashburton Delicatessen |
And, here is the full-size Proper Devon Pasty, from Jennycliff Cafe, formerly they came from "The Pastymaker ...." at Oreston but now relocated to Jennycliff ..... but now they have closed.
The Proper Devon Pasty, with the top crimp
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| Proper Devon Pasty from Jennycliff Cafe end view to show the Devon-style top crimp |
Jennycliff Cafe Pasty with its paper bag |
Ron Dewdney's shop opposite the St Levan Gate into Devonport Dockyard
at 202 Keyham Road, Plymouth
Ron's shop echoes the history of Plymouth and of the Royal Navy in Plymouth in that it takes the place of the original 'oggie man' ("beneath the dockyard wall") - see here for that story: The Oggie Man !!! The only difference perhaps was that the original 'oggie man' in the song was outside the Albert gate. By the way, the "Whopper" seen advertised on the shop window can be seen on this web site on the Giant pasties page.
Ivor Dewdney's shop at 109 Wolseley Road, Plymouth. There are other Ivor Dewdney shops at 42 Devonport Road and 99 Cornwall Street in the centre of Plymouth
Answers.com - Pasty offers the following .....
"In November 2006 a Devonian historian claimed that pasties originate from the other side of the river in Devon. Dr Todd Gray, chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives, insisted he was right. 'The pasty is a Devonian delicacy and Cornwall stole it'.
His claim is based on the historic Old Audit Book and Receivers Accounts for the Borough of Plymouth, which dates back to the 16th century. The book is housed in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
Dr Gray spotted four key lines of text which refer to the financial cost of making a pasty, using venison from the Mount Edgcumbe (so at least the meat was Cornish) estate just across the Tamar River. The words date back to 1510. So Dr Gray contacted the Cornwall Record Office and found that its earliest record of a pasty recipe was in 1746. Thus Devon wins the pasty war by a clear 200 years, he concluded. 'This is one of Plymouth's ancient 16th-century documents which has never been properly presented to the public. This is a great joy for me as an historian uncovering local history,' he said."
This was also reported by the BBC and the Guardian, Observer & Independent newspapers
So, this was a venison pasty, as used throughout England from the Middle Ages, from at least 1390. These were mentioned by
The question is: when was the Devon pasty introduced, with beef?
It is said that the Proper Devon Pasty has the famous top-crimp, however, Pengenna Pasties, St Ives, uses the top-crimp and you can't get more "Cornish" than St. Ives!
Perhaps the whole argument based on the position of the crust is a fallacy - Ann Muller, who makes excellent pasties on The Lizard, Cornwall, forms a crimp that is half-way between? This can be seen here, on the BBC News site, when a Devon baker, Chunk of Devon, won the British Pie Awards for the best pasty .....
..... ..... ..... perhaps what Devon should lay claim to, bearing in mind the "pasty war" news item described above, is the Devon Venison Pasty?
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