Pasties are a favorite comfort food in many parts of Michigan, especially in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) where the Yoopers reside, known to be the friendliest people you will ever meet. Their variety of American English is native to the U.P and thus the name Yoopers.

I am very proud of how pretty they looked (forget the fancy crimping this time) and how good they tasted.

Now, for some history/detail – just scroll down to the recipe if you want to avoid this.

I live in the Lower Peninsula and this was one of the first recipes I made way back when I first started cooking in earnest; I met Gene. I made them a few times and then I found a local bakery that sold them and that became my source for many years.

There have been attempts to declare pasties the state food of Michigan – at least in the U.P.! However, my “Great Lakes” state has not given that recognition to the pasty. A debate is still going on about the state fruit: cherry or blueberry; state fish is rainbow trout, state flower is apple blossom – just to name a few.

Did you know that the word pasty is a generic name for the shape (D shape) and can contain a variety of fillings. But the true Cornish Pasties have their traditional filling and originally came from Cornwall, England.

Here is a shortened version of Cornish Pasty according to the Cornish Pasty Association “No meat other than beef, and no vegetables other than potato, swede (turnip) and onions and seasoning to taste (mainly salt and pepper) can be used in the filling. There must be at least 12.5% beef and 25% vegetables. The vegetables can’t be cooked before assembling and then the pasties are slowly baked. The dough has to be savory and able to withstand baking and handling without breaking. It can be glazed with egg, milk or both. Once assembled the edges are sealed by crimping them to one side – if it’s not crimped it’s not Cornish.”

Perfect example of beautiful crimping from Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

In other words you can make your own version of a pasty but if it’s not followed by the above rules and ingredients it’s not considered a Cornish Pasty.

For the Cornish Pasty Association recipe go here:

Make your own Genuine Cornish pasty

Pasties are regarded as the national dish of Cornwall, England with a Protected Geographical Indication status. It’s like a trademark that gives legal protection to the name Cornish Pasty and stops inferior products being passed off as genuine Cornish pasties.

Beginning in 1843, there was an epic copper boom when miners from all over the world flocked to the Upper Peninsula.  Many of the miners came from Cornwall, England followed by a small influx of Finnish immigrants during the mining boom. The story is pasties made a portable lunch to take down into the mines that would stay warm for several hours.. The rim of the pasties were made extra thick to use as a handle and to keep the soot out of the pasties – a tasty meal without the need for any cutlery. The rims were later thrown out covered with soot once the pasties were consumed.

One of the ingredients in my old recipe is suet, not in the pastry dough but in the filling. I have no idea where I got this recipe but I have held onto it for possibly 40 years. Recently my interest in making these famous meat pies  was renewed. I liked my recipe but I wanted to see what else was out there. I will post my original recipe (just for old times sake) in the future. I’m off the grid though as I add vinegar to my dough, add pork and carrots instead of rutabaga.

I did a lot of research online and in my cookbooks, including older ones like this Twentieth Century Cookbook dating back to 1905. The only recipe I could find using suet was for Suet Pudding, a British favorite.

I had no problem finding dough and pasties recipes with all kinds of versions but there was not one filling recipe which had suet in it. Online searches and leafing through many cookbooks and recipes I had saved did not get me the recipe I was looking for. I was about to give up when I looked through one of my more recently purchased cookbooks.

Zingerman’s Bakehouse Cookbook which was published in 2017 was one of my last resources and there it was; a recipe for pasties with suet in the filling. In the introduction to the Cornish Pasty recipe the authors first emphasized the importance of a mix of lard and butter in the dough, which I certainly agree as butter gives the flavor and lard provides flakiness. They went on to stress a “secret ingredient is the beef suet, simply beef fat and is a critical element of the filling, adding a distinctive richness”. Yes,  Zingerman’s is actually confirming an ingredient I first used so long ago.

You can see 1/3 cup finely diced beef suet (actually it was more shredded) is one of the ingredients; my recipe called for ground suet. No problem, as diced/shredded should work just as good. The idea is to provide more flavor in the pasties.

So what is suet? It’s the fat found around the kidney and other organs of animals (mainly beef and mutton).  It has a very low melting point and also a very high smoke point.

I ordered suet online from Atora, an English company who offer not only beef but vegetable suet shreds. Their suet was first introduced in 1893 so they have been around a long time. Quite different from the suet at the butchers! It went through some kind of a process which I won’t go into now.

The big chunk of suet came from my local butcher, Knight’s Market. You might  find suet in the meat counter at your local grocery store or you certainly could ask if they could save you some.  I bought mine at one of my favorite meat markets; Knight’s Market.  They also have a very popular restaurant in town; Knight’s Steakhouse where as the name suggests has some of the best beef in town!

In case you’re interested, tallow is rendered suet and not easy to find. It can be considered an old fashioned fat and was eventually replaced with refined vegetable oils such as canola.

Lard (or rendered pork fat) is similar to suet.. Leaf lard is the highest grade (pricey) and comes from the soft fat from around the kidneys and loin of the pig. There is a slight difference in melting point, consistency and flavor. It has a natural moisture content and mild flavor. Like tallow it is not easy to find as I ordered it online. The Armour lard was available in my local grocery store.

The only fat I have not mentioned is Crisco, a vegetable shortening. I grew up with this and my original recipe for my pasty dough uses Crisco.  I might have to change this and plan to make my original recipe in the future. This fat has less flavor than butter or lard and it doesn’t color as nicely. It also contains a high amount of trans fats but a pro is it has a long shelf life.

Every year Zingerman’s Community of Businesses gives out scholarships to employees who want to study something related to their work. One year a former Bakehouse employee, Anne Good, decided that she wanted to learn to make Cornish pasties in Cornwall, England. She won the scholarship and set off to learn about this “meat pie” and later returned to the bakery to translate what she learned from one environment to another.

Apparently, none of the ingredients tasted the same and the flour performed differently. Through trial and error Anne was persistent to make it authentic. Pasties are now a Bakehouse standard and the Cornish pasty season runs from  October through the end of March at Zingerman’s Bakehouse. They serve it for lunch on Mondays and after 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. They are also available frozen and all you have to do is bake them. By the way, they also sell a cheese/onion pasty – sounds delicious and of course I had to buy a couple to try.

So here is their original recipe, nothing was changed, I just added more information. I liked their recipe as it only makes 4 pasties which is very easy to work with – we shall see about my crimping skills!

Zingerman’s Bakehouse pasty that I baked frozen – the meat was more shredded than cubed – same flaky crust!

There are pasty shops/restaurants all over Michigan and each one probably has their own special version. Non-traditional condiments are some times served such as gravy or ketchup. The miners didn’t have the luxury of condiments but somewhere in history gravy and tomato ketchup became add-ons to the Pasty.

I have such a store in Plymouth, Michigan where I currently live; U.P. Pasties & The Plymouth General Store. They sell their pasties hot or you can also buy them frozen.

Comment: This recipe took me forever to write up, not make. I had a different post all done and then I found Zingerman’s recipe and decided to make a number of changes. As I love to research I kept finding more and more information and it turned into this long post. I hope you have learned something new about one of Michigan’s historical dishes; I know I did!

I will eventually post my original recipe which I feel is a good one – maybe next Fall when the Pasty season starts over again. I need to recover from this post, but it was well worth the effort  🙂