South Australia’s Cornish Pasty

South Australia’s Cornish pasty is an icon and part of the South Australian State heritage. I tasted my first pasty when I moved to Australia. I liked it more than pies. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out more about this delightful dish. I took it as a light meal or snack until I found out it started out as a full meal. Hence this post.

Its life on the shores of Australia began when early Cornish migrants to South Australia brought the pasty along with them. The State of South Australia needed miners to work their newly opened copper mines and it called for skilled and experienced miners. The migration began in 1836, nearly 185 years ago.

27th July 1836 marked the first landing of those from Cornwall. And the trend  continued for the next few decades. Along with them came the pasty which was integral to their vocation and purpose made for it. Interestingly I never did come across a dish or meal that was tied to a vocation such as the pasty. I am sure there has to be other dishes playing a similar vocation linked role in other cultures.

The Pasty outside of South Australia

Most Australians outside of South Australia have little idea of the pasty’s association or its long history with the State. Though it is sold all over the State it never seemed to have crossed the borders.

Cole’s Curtis Stone did a nice YouTube presentation on the Cornish pasty but did not mention the State. Both in term of popularity here or its long established history. I could not help but think that he did know about its link.

Thankfully Adam Liaw a fellow chef who grew up in Adelaide covered the association well.

Now a snack and smaller

The pasty is odd in one way.  It started life as a complete meal rather than a snack or light meal.

Miners of the years gone by did not surface from the  mines for their meals. It took time and just too hard to bring them up to the surface. Their meal break had to be done down at the level they were working on. And it was pasty that they brought along within the confines of deep driven shafts.

Cooked by their mothers and wives early before sunrise, cubed beef, chopped potatoes and onions with slices of turnip or swede formed the filling.  Placed on a rolled flat circular dough it was folded over and oven cooked close to an hour. Things have changed since, carrots for instance have been added..

The pasty’s thicker crimped crescent shaped side had a distinct purpose. Miners held this side with their sooty and dusty hands and discarded it when done to avoid contamination. The crimped side is now less pronounced.

What’s inside?

An equal mix of meat and veg combination spoke of it being a complete meal. With the pastry crunchiness, meat texture, soft veg and gravy it was good. Had the right taste and texture.  

Unlike other snacks where raw washed salad is placed on cooked meat or just meat in heavy gravy or sauce. The pasty was different. I found it balanced. and I suspect it’s the balance, meat and veg, wrapped in baked dough that draws me to it.

There is a prominent dedicated Cornish Pasty stall at one of the entrances to the huge London’s Waterloo Station. I would nip in here to get my bites when I moved to work in the UK. For some reason it tasted different. I am sure it is based on the original recipe but i think it was the gravy that was different.

The family however prefers meat pies with me being the exception. They and I wondered why.

For some reason, I like it in the day but not at night. Again I have no idea why. When the family do their occasional past-midnight forays to Villi’s off South Road, it’s always a meat pie for me. I think it could be that the pasty is much more than a pie and too much for a late supper.

The Copper Triangle

Now for a little bit more of this early migrant history and the location of the mines.

“Little Cornwall” in South Australia is made up of the towns of Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina. All  in the Yorke Peninsula and well known as the Copper Triangle where the mines were. Moonta is 162 kms from Adelaide and take you about 2 over hours to reach there by car.

One of the richest companies in Australia at that time circa 1861 was the Moonta Mining Company. During the mining boom it was said that the Copper Triangle rivalled Adelaide in terms of wealth, all from copper.

There are no longer working mines there. Its decline began by the 1930s due to drop in copper pricing. To me and many other residents of the city of Adelaide, the copper mines of the Copper Triangle never came to mind. We liked the Yorke Peninsula for its nice towns, fishing and holiday shacks for that occasional getaway.

Cornish migrants not only brought along the pasty but their kind of architecture from far away Cornwall including stone fencing.

Those who live there or who have families there continue to keep their heritage alive. There is the Moonta Mining Museum. Their past culture and heritage is also celebrated yearly to this day. Kernewek Lowender Coast Cornish Festival is another one for the Festival State.

The miners and their families brought along the traits of their Cornwall past – mining know-how and the making of the enduring pasty. And the State was better for it.