Live data from Hacker News

Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

bbc.com

31–40 of 49 posts

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#32

One of the less horrible aspects of British colonialism I guess. Being born a Cornishman I remember my father recounting a somewhat apocryphal tale of a grockle* visiting a pub and asking for chips (fries) with his pasty. The landlord looked at him somewhat aghast and asked him if he was sure? The tourist replies that he was hungry and always has chips with his pasty back home. A little while later the landlord retur…

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals Toxic metals..?

Mines are really dirty, and modern sanitation doesn't exist in them.

Having recently gone on a tour of coal mines in eastern Canada, the way it worked was that a miner would put a pasty in their clothes (to keep you and then it warm), take it out and eat it (without washing your hands) when lunchtime came, then threw the crimp end that was covered in dirt/muck to the mine rats.

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#33

One of the less horrible aspects of British colonialism I guess. Being born a Cornishman I remember my father recounting a somewhat apocryphal tale of a grockle* visiting a pub and asking for chips (fries) with his pasty. The landlord looked at him somewhat aghast and asked him if he was sure? The tourist replies that he was hungry and always has chips with his pasty back home. A little while later the landlord retur…

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals Toxic metals..?

Cornwall's mining industry was mostly tin, but some other metals too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Cornwall_and_Devon

> Historically, tin and copper as well as a few other metals (e.g., arsenic, silver, and zinc) have been mined in Cornwall and Devon.

There's nowhere to wash your hands down a mine.

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#34
I was expecting this to be about the empanada (although in hindsight that would be an odd title for an article about empanadas). It says here that the key difference is that an empanada's filling is cooked before being wrapped, whereas a paste's is not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paste_(pasty)#Differences_with...

And the pastry is different, but i suspect the pastry of both varies so much that wouldn't hold up empirically.

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals Toxic metals..?

Mines are really dirty, and modern sanitation doesn't exist in them. Having recently gone on a tour of coal mines in eastern Canada, the way it worked was that a miner would put a pasty in their clothes (to keep you and then it warm), take it out and eat it (without washing your hands) when lunchtime came, then threw the crimp end that was covered in dirt/muck to the mine rats.

Oh, ok. I assumed they would just avoid touching it directly, by wrapping it in a cloth or something.

EDIT: Like this one, actually :) http://cousinjackspastyco.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/IMG...

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#36

One of the less horrible aspects of British colonialism I guess. Being born a Cornishman I remember my father recounting a somewhat apocryphal tale of a grockle* visiting a pub and asking for chips (fries) with his pasty. The landlord looked at him somewhat aghast and asked him if he was sure? The tourist replies that he was hungry and always has chips with his pasty back home. A little while later the landlord retur…

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals Toxic metals..?

The crimp is like the crust of a pizza, the handle to hold your food if you will. If you didn't have gloves or access to running water and held your pizza by the crust with said hands, would you eat the crust?

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crimp was originally not eaten as the miners would want to avoid eating the toxic metals Toxic metals..?

The crimp is like the crust of a pizza, the handle to hold your food if you will. If you didn't have gloves or access to running water and held your pizza by the crust with said hands, would you eat the crust?

Cornwall was home to a lot of mines: famously copper and rather a lot of arsenic as well.

I think the idea that the side crimp would be thrown away is pretty unlikely - there would be a fair few calories in it and the work done was backbreaking and demand every calorie possible.

Throwing food away is a very modern concept.

Re: Mexico’s take on the Cornish pasty

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And scones. And sea food. And coastline. And historic buildings. I love Cornwall, just a shame it's so slow to get to.

The A303 tunnel under Stonehenge should eliminate one significant bottleneck, at least. As well as bury the ugly, noisy road that spoils our world heritage site! https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/cip/a303-stonehenge...

We've been waiting an awful long time for that and "duel the 303" through Somerset.
Post reply on HN