Author: joepastry
Panis
Let’s get the word out there on the table right now: panis. Because that’s what I’ll be discussing this morning. I know, several of you sniggered yesterday at the word “coctum”, probably the same bunch that were chuckling at my pasties when I made them. I know you back-of-the-bus types, out to ruin everything that’s […]
READ ONBut what does it MEAN?
Biscotti, or, um…biscotto, you mean? Why, “biscuit” of course, but in the British sense of the word, which is to say it means “cookie”. We English-speakers have the word, so do French-speakers (biscuit, pronounced bis-KWEE), Portuguese-speakers (biscoito), Spanish speakers (bizcocho) and even Greek speakers (biskoti). The term means slightly different things in all those languages, […]
READ ONWhat do you call just one biscotti?
A biscotto. There’s a little picayune, know-it-all tidbit you can use on friends and family, though they’ll certainly want to beat you to death with the nearest blunt object afterward. It’s right up there with, how’s that panino, Bill? Or, did you see that somebody spray-painted a gang sign on our garage wall? Such an […]
READ ONRequest #1: Biscotti
When it comes to my self-image as a son-in-law, I like to consider myself a reasonably good one. By no means perfect, but definitely in the upper quadrant in terms of overall respect and and even obedience (at least, you know, when it’s convenient for me). That said, when my mother-in-law sent in her request […]
READ ONOggie, Oggie, Tiddy Oggie!
Such was the “chant” that Cornish miners were said to have exclaimed just prior to digging into their lunches. It will serve me as my farewell to the “tiddy oggie” (“potato pasty” in the Cornish vernacular) for a while, albeit with a tear in my eye. For it has been a delightful baking adventure, not […]
READ ONHow to Make a Cornish Pasty II
Top-crimped, steak and leek, that is. I’ll stick to the shaping instructions, since the dough mixing technique is almost identical to that for side-crimped pasties. We’ll pick up at the point where you’ve assembled your ingredient mound — salted at every layer of course — running right down the middle of your dough circle. Paint […]
READ ONTop crimped = Devon-style pasty?
I’ve heard that before, that side-crimped pasties are “true” Cornish-style pasties and top-crimped are Devon-style. I think some people in the West country wish the distinction were that easy to make. In fact pasty makers in both counties argue over which is best, and which crimp belongs to who. At least in my own experience.
READ ONTop-Crimped Pasty Recipe
I decided I’d stretch out a bit for the top-crimped version, and do a steak & leek treatment on the concept. It’s still within the boundaries of traditional, assuming that word has much meaning. For as you know well by now, pasties were a make-do food. Anything and everything can — and did — go […]
READ ONThe Mexican Pasty
Is it filled with chiles, black beans and rice? I honestly don’t know. However I do know that in a town in the south of Mexico known as Pachuca, they make and serve hand pies they call pasties. They are, of course, another product of Cornish emigration, brought there by miners who weren’t after tin, […]
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