Michigan invites visitors to try some ‘pasties’ for supper

When in Michigan, do as the locals do…and enjoy a hearty pasty for the main meal of the day. Although a pasty is a tasty meat-based dish, you’ve got to learn to say it right. 

The “a” sound is soft. Pasty rhymes with “nasty.” You have to train your brain to sync up with your mouth.

The pasty was introduced to America by British miners who came over to Michigan in the 1840s from Cornwall County on England’s rugged southwestern coastal tip. The Cornish miners found work in the copper mines that had been discovered in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The epicenter of the mining district was Marquette County on Lake Superior.

 

Journalist Elise LaPointe described a pasty as a “pot pie without a pot.” It was easy for the miners to carry pasties to work. They would stay warm for hours but could also be easily heated up if need be. Miners would simply place their pasty on a shovel and warm it up over a heat-lamp candle. 

Ben Gorges, a Midwestern food blogger, said pasties “are a whole meal folded into a pastry shell. Most commonly, they are filled with beef and root vegetables then baked until tender.” 

Popular vegetables used in a pasty are potatoes, onions, rutabagas, turnips and carrots. Gorges’ instructions are: “Begin by making your dough by mixing flour, salt and a dab of butter. Add water. Form a ball. Knead the dough a few times then let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

 

“Prepare your vegetables by chopping them into small pieces, then add to a large bowl and mix together along with some salt and pepper. Separately, crumble your beef/hamburger into small bits.” 

“Remove your dough from the refrigerator and cut into six equal pieces and then flatten them into discs one-eighth of an inch thick. Pile each round of dough with the vegetable mixture, then top with beef and one teaspoon of butter and fold the dough shut. Crimp the edges with a fork to ensure your pasty remains closed. Each pasty should weigh about two pounds.” 

“Finally, beat an egg in a dish and paint the pasty with the egg wash to add a glossy shine as it bakes. Bake your pasties in a 350-degree oven for one hour.” 

Miners would grip the pasty’s crimped edge as a handle and eat “from the top down.” They would discard the handle when they were done.

 

The leftover crusts weren’t being wasted. They provided nourishment for the ghosts who haunted the mines. These spirits were known as Tommyknockers, and they represented men who had died in mining accidents since the beginning of time. 

The Cornish miners described the ghoulish creatures as being about two feet tall with a big head, long arms, a wrinkled face with white whiskers…and wearing standard miner’s garb. Tommyknockers find amusement in hiding miners’ unattended tools. 

David Livermore has been preparing pasties in various Michigan restaurants for many years. He said the key is for the flavors to blend together so that “nothing is super overpowering. You take a bite, and it’s like tasting a bit of Michigan history,” he said. 

When you order pasties in a Michigan restaurant, select your favorite dip – ketchup or gravy. That’s a toss-up. The folks from the Upper Peninsula, known affectionately as “Yoopers,” tend to prefer ketchup.

 

The people who live in the Lower Peninsula (who the Yoopers have dubbed “trolls” due to the fact that they reside “under/below” the Mackinac Bridge), favor gravy.