Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cornish pasty saved by Eurocrats!

Not so much "saved", more "protected" but following in the footsteps of the Lough Neagh Eel, Rutland Bitter and the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie:
The Cornish pasty has become a protected food following a long campaign to prevent it being copied by imitators.

Only pasties prepared in Cornwall and following the traditional recipe can now be described as Cornish after the European commission awarded the dish "protected geographical indication" (PGI) status. Authentic pasties can still be finally baked elsewhere in Britain.

Campaigners celebrated the decision, saying it was important for the local economy – thousands of jobs are involved in the pasty industry – as well as for consumers.

Alan Adler, chairman of the Cornish Pasty Association, said: "By guaranteeing the quality of the Cornish pasty, we are helping to protect our British food legacy.
The association said a genuine Cornish pasty had a distinctive "D" shape and was crimped on one side, never on top.
Like this?
I'll have some of that (with a bottle of Rutland, if I can find it):
The texture of the filling is chunky, made up of uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%), swede, potato, and onion with a light seasoning. The pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking. The pasty is slow-baked and no artificial flavourings or additives must be used."

4 comments:

Timothy Belmont said...

At least they've got one thing right. ;-)

All we need now are more decent pasties for sale!

tara said...

This blog made me hungry!

Anonymous said...

Plenty of decent pasties for sale at the Cornish Pasty Trading Company,as you know Timothy! made by the oldest pasty baker in the world and members of the CPA that fought for the PGI status. Get down there one and all and experiance a real Cornish Pasty with heritage. Thanks, the Pasty Pirate!

cornish pasties said...

The European commission has been protecting many foods recently. I am a crazy pasty lover and I feel it’s good that they decided to protect the status of Cornish pasty. Cornish pasties is only when you prepare them in Cornwall.