Cornish Pasties

Cornish pasties originated as portable lunches for tin miners, fishermen and farmers to take to work. Housewives used to make one for each member of the household and mark their initials on one end of the pasty. These complete-meal pasties, which vary slightly in content in different parts of Cornwall, were popular in other parts of the country too. In Bedfordshire, for instance, they put fruit in one end of the pasty, for dessert; these were called 'Bedfordshire Clangers'. A prime cut of meat, such as rump, is often used in Cornwall for the pasties but, because of the high price of rump, you can use blade.