Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Miner's Delight

Students get a crash course in pasty-making

Keith Vandervort
Posted 11/25/15

ELY - Few meals have roots as deep as the pasty, a hand-held meat-and-vegetable pie developed as a lunch for workers in the ancient English mining region of Cornwall.

With its traditional …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Miner's Delight

Students get a crash course in pasty-making

Posted

ELY - Few meals have roots as deep as the pasty, a hand-held meat-and-vegetable pie developed as a lunch for workers in the ancient English mining region of Cornwall.

With its traditional crescent-moon shape, and an insulating crust that does double-duty as a handle, the humble pasty, which fortunately rhymes with “nasty” rather than “tasty,” is considered as its own food group on the Iron Range in Minnesota.

Last weekend, Ely local, Loreliei Lenich, introduced three Ely Folk School students to the art and science of creating pasties.

Rolf Swanson, recently moved to Hoyt Lakes from the Twin Cities. “I used to live in Duluth and I learned to love pasties there,” he said. “This is a perfect way to learn how to make them, now that I’m an Ranger.”

Ruth Jorgenson came to the class from Carlton. “My husband loves pasties. His father used to work in the mines,” she said.

Molly Olson recently moved to Ely with her family. “We have them all the time and it will be fun when we can make them at home,” she said.

Lenich’s Ely roots run deep. Her great-grandparents emigrated here from Croatia and Slovenia. She has lived in Ely most of her life, and learned to make pasties from her grandmother.

“The way she did it was a lot of work, including grinding her own meat,” she said. A local market in Ely course grinds beef and pork that is perfect for pasties. “So we can skip that step entirely,” she said.

Not many ingredients are needed to make pasties.

The dough consists of flour, a bit of salt, a bit of cold water, and butter and lard. The lard isn’t necessary, but it makes a better crust.

“The way I’m showing you how to make the dough is a little different than you have ever seen, Lenich said. “You do not use an implement, you use these,” as she held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. “They work the best.”

She talked about the vegetables that go into a pasty: potatoes, rutabagas, carrots and onions. “Some vegetables are more dense and will bake at a slower rate,” she said. “You want all the veggies to be done at the same time.”

The only seasoning required is salt and pepper.

She started the preparation by showing the students how to separate the meat and fat into small pieces. “Be careful with how much fat you keep, especially on the pork. Just a little bit keeps the meat moist,” she said. “The beef can have a little more fat because it tends to dry out.”

She noted that pasties can contain just about anything, depending on personal taste. “You can use some venison if you like,” she said, “but also use the beef and pork. You can use a corn meal dough and just beef sprinkled with a Spanish seasoning and green chilis and cheese. The sky is really the limit.”

The size of the pasty has evolved. “How this all started was that the miners needed a lunch,” she said. “They started out as little rectangles about five inches long by three inches wide,” she said. “Over the years, they grew into the crescent-shaped or larger half circles, which is far too much for one person.”

She claimed she was going to teach her students to make smaller pasties. They each made two pasties to take home and bake. One observer noted they were still too big for one meal for one person.

Rutabagas are very dense and most cooks don’t have occasion to use them. “You almost need a power saw to cut it,” she said. “It is also hard to peel.” She suggested dicing them into cubes about an eighth of an inch in size.

All the veggies went to a bowl with water and ice. “Keep those veggies cold and firm until you’re ready for assembly. You don’t want naked veggies turning black on you.”

The peeled carrots can be diced a bit larger, maybe twice the size of the rutabagas.

Potatoes should be cleaned, peeled and have the eyes and any dark spots removed, Lenich suggested. She prefers to use red potatoes but admitted any type will work. They are chunked a bit larger than the carrots.

“Keep this in mind,” she said. “If the vegetable chunks are too big, the corners and edges tend to poke through the dough or tear it.”

Onions should be peeled and remove the center core to make the chopping easier. “Mince them almost to oblivion,” she said. “You really can’t mince those onions too much.”

Can you add jalapeño peppers? “Why not!” she said.

Lenich spent a good amount of time teaching the students her dough-making technique. “The old recipe calls for using equal parts of butter and lard,” she said. “Use just butter if you like.”

Make sure the butter and lard is cold before using.

“Use you fingers to mix the flour and chunks of butter and lard. Don’t mash it, just mix it up,” she said. “The more you handle the dough, the tougher it will get. Don’t use old flour.”

The dough is rolled out into a circle about 10 inches in diameter. Drain the veggies and with the meat, layer the mixture together on one half of the dough circle. Fold over the other half of the dough, pinch it shut and flute the edges.

“And that’s all there is to it,” she said. “Take those home and bake them for about an hour. After they cool, throw them in the freezer if like.”

Do you put gravy or ketchup on them? That is for another class.