Steak and kidney pudding,Cornish pasties and Shepherds Pie.

About this image

DescriptionMum used to cook the best steak and kidney pudding and cornish pasties and Shepherds pie, all on the coal range. I often got the job of mincing the carrot and onion and cooked mutton in the old hand mincer.Mutton was cheap and plentiful in those days,
Dad used to take Cornish pasties in his crib tin down the mine.

Malcolm Howell... Filling ideas are endless however, and can be as diverse as your taste will take you. There is much debate as to whether the ingredients should be mixed together before they are put in the pasty or lined up on the pastry in a certain order, with pastry partitions. However, there is agreement that the meat should be chopped (not necessarily minced), the vegetables sliced and none should be cooked before they are sealed within the pastry. It is this that makes the Cornish pasty different from other similar foods.

It was such a commonly used method of eating amongst the miners that some mines had stoves down the mine shafts specifically to cook the raw pasties. And this is how the well known British rhyme “Oggie, Oggie, Oggie” came about. “Oggie” stems from “Hoggan”, Cornish for pasty and it was shouted down the mine shaft by the bal-maidens who were cooking the pasties, when they were ready for eating. In reply, the miners would shout “Oi, Oi, Oi!” However, if they were cooked in the mornings, the pastry could keep the fillings warm for 8-10 hours and, when held close to the body, keep the miners warm too.

It was also common for the pasties to provide not only a hearty, savoury main course lunch, but also a sweet or fruity desert course. The savoury filling would be cooked at one end of the crescent and the sweet course at the other end. Hopefully these ends would be marked on the outside too!Date of PhotoBetween 1st January 1950 and 31st December 1970Map^[1]ContributorHeather Newby

Shown in this image

Location (city or town)GreymouthEventSteak and Kidney pudding Cornish Pasty Shepherds Pie

Category Information

Category TagFood

OCR Text Transcription Edit Edit +-Close