Pastys - where to get decent ones?

Oh, but just to rub salt in, I’m just about to have my first home made one of the day 🙂

Without wanting to fan any flames here;

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Enriched doughs and pastries aren’t greasy if they’re made properly. Same for fish and chips.

Proper pasty pastry should be short crust, and therefore not greasy at all.

Kitty7 said :

I am counting down the days till I have a holiday in Adelaide. Then I will be feasting on them daily, and flying home with a freezer full of them from the bakery around the corner from where I will be staying.

quote]

You can keep your Adelaide pasties Kitty; my Adelaide cravings all involve their amazing ‘pie floaters’ …. mmmm pie floaters … mmmm … best. thing. ever!

petty agro

JB, my comments were not directed at you 🙂 (is that better). Dunno if I’d call it agro either. Just differing opinions, which I know you encourage.

Enriched doughs and pastries aren’t greasy if they’re made properly. Same for fish and chips.

Oh you two.

God it’s been a while since you’ve unleashed your petty agro on me TM.

I like pastry made with butter.

I don’t like pastry leaking so much oil the whole paper bag goes clear before you can put it in the car.

I know many real pastry chefs who can manage the balance.

Greasy pastry in everything

Yes JB, becuase they ACTUALLY use butter instead of shortcutting and using all kinda of other cheaper oils that most bakeries do to cut down on costs. Have you ever tried pastries in France for instance. By the sound of your tastes, I suppose you wouldn’t like them.

The troubles with Cornucopia are:

1) Greasy pastry in everything

2) No matter what time you try and go there, it’s always closed.

Thanks Peter, they sound great, and I’ll be giving them a go this weekend (great excuse to cook a lamb roast too).

For PB: Cornucopia is in Braddon 😉

Kitty7: I’ve always found the bakeries at Garran, Hughes and Yarralumla are “good”. Depends on what you’re after though. Had a nice Italian sausage role from Garran the other day (it’s a sausage role with other herbs and stuff). Didn’t think to check out pasties though..

I am counting down the days till I have a holiday in Adelaide. Then I will be feasting on them daily, and flying home with a freezer full of them from the bakery around the corner from where I will be staying.

A few years ago Woolies had the Balfours footy pasties in the frozen section, didn’t last long even though they were regularly sold out. The last good ones I had here in Canberra were at Floriade, the Villi’s version. Jabal’s fruit and veg at Mawson and Kippax sell the Halal version (vegetarian) which is not too bad, better than the ones I have tried at any bakeries in Canberra.

Everytime I hear about a good bakery, I try them but have always been disappointed. If anyone does happen to find a good bakery in Canberra, please please please put it on here so I can go check it out ASAP.

True, Vili’s, they were after I left Adelaide, must try them.

The Oven Door in Civic has the best pasties in the CBD, but they’re missing a certain je ne sais quoi.

Several places in ACT (Phillip Pool, National Zoo and Aquarium) sell Vili’s. Vili’s may also still do warehouse-door sales out at Mitchell.

South Australia, especially the York Peninsula – old Cornish mining towns.
The only decent pasty I’ve had in Canberra in over 20 years was a weird ham and cheese one, it had the vitsl NO PEAS, something that the easterners just don’t get.
I’ve seen frozen Balfours pasties in the supermarkets here, when, no idea – worth trying.

Someone had to be the first to say it, I suppose…

I so noticed that, PB! And my grandfather ate one!! No wonder he went to an early grave ….

How did thos burlesque dancers get them to stick to their nipples?

Thanks for the tip peterh.

Granny,
Cooked flying rat? It’s a Cornish delicacy.

You should head over to Kadina in SA for the Cornish Festival, PB. My grandparents took us over back in the 70s. They were selling cooked pigeons too, ewwww!

PB, try the bakery in townsville street in fyshwick, they may do them…

or the wanniassa bakery.

As I said, it sounds good.

Pommy bastard said :

peterh said :

Lamb? Parsnip? celery? carrots? peas? In a pasty?????

Skirt beef, spud, swede and onion, bit ‘o salt and pepper. (parsley if you are a ponce)

I use an unpowered mincer (hand operated), and mince the lamb first, set aside, then everything bar the peas,

[

You mince the ingredients? Burn the witch, burn the witch!!!!

I then cook the veg in a saucepan to a state of half cooked.

***faints***

(only kidding it sounds good, if not at all traditional)

sigh. it isn’t traditional for you, but the family have had the same recipe for over 80 years, so it is a sort of a tradition…. especially considering that we are all from english stock, ancestors were free settlers on the buffalo, so I will let my granny off from deviating from the original recipe…

peterh said :

pretty easy. standard pie dough recipe with a pinch of salt added, look anywhere on net for that, filling is 1-2 sticks celery, 2x small parsnips, 2x onion (or 1x leek), 2x small swede (forgot), 2x small carrots, 1 cup fresh or frozen peas, tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. Lamb from last night’s roast, with a bit of the dripping…. (optional)

Lamb? Parsnip? celery? carrots? peas? In a pasty?????

Skirt beef, spud, swede and onion, bit ‘o salt and pepper. (parsley if you are a ponce)

I use an unpowered mincer (hand operated), and mince the lamb first, set aside, then everything bar the peas,

[

You mince the ingredients? Burn the witch, burn the witch!!!!

I then cook the veg in a saucepan to a state of half cooked.

***faints***

(only kidding it sounds good, if not at all traditional)

using last night’s roast has two benefits, if you have the dripping, instant gravy, and the wife doesn’t get to remove the fat from the lamb… oh, and the occasional deep fried crunchy bit…

tylersmayhem said :

when this massive seagull landed on Ms Thumper’s head

It’s amazing how bi seagulls are in the UK. they look exactly the same as the ones here in Aussie, but about a half to 2/3’s bigger! I’ve seen one take of with te ice cream from a cone when I was in Cornwall.

PeterH: please share your recipe, it sounds unbelievably good!

pretty easy. standard pie dough recipe with a pinch of salt added, look anywhere on net for that, filling is 1-2 sticks celery, 2x small parsnips, 2x onion (or 1x leek), 2x small swede (forgot), 2x small carrots, 1 cup fresh or frozen peas, tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. Lamb from last night’s roast, with a bit of the dripping…. (optional)

I use an unpowered mincer (hand operated), and mince the lamb first, set aside, then everything bar the peas, I then cook the veg in a saucepan to a state of half cooked. Helps the flavor come out. Mix in with the meat, and sauce. No seasoning apart from a pinch of salt and pepper. I use a saucer to make the rounds in the pastry, after rolling it out to about between half an inch to an inch thick, on a floured board, with a floured rolling pin. I then use a serving spoon to dole out the mixture, then crimp with my first 2 fingers and thumb. coat crimp with egg mixture (1 egg, beaten) and into oven (200c) for about 10-15 mins. check to ensure that you see it going brown… and remove.

enjoy!

Thanks astrojax.

cornucopia is on mort st, braddon, by the round-a-bout.

and damn you, danman – i was going to show my erudition by discoursing on the history of this delectable repast…

haven’t really had a good pastie to write home about from sunny canberra – adelaide on the other hand…

The two filling (mains and desert) is a bit of a myth, there’s no record of one.

However the crimps were traditionally thrown away, due to the high levels of arsenic in tin mines!

OT I know but…

Little known fact that pasties were originally miners food, with 2 sections, and the crimping on the edge was a handle to hold on to so as to not dirty the part of the pastie being eaten….

Where is cornucopia?

Which do you call the proper crimp Gobbo?

Cornucopia

This place rules man – soooo bloody good. Rather rip-off expensive, but I still can’t help myself! 🙂

I have never found a pasty in Australia that has been made in the ‘right’ pastry … or crimped properly.

Beef, onions, potatoes, salt and pepper. If I wanted carrots I’d eat my own vomit.

Cornucopia

and Pork Pies!!!

Braidwood Deli sell em…

I occasionally pickup a pasty or two from teh Hall markets which are made locally, I think, at the Weetangera Bakery. I could be wrong about the bakery name but the pasty’s are always great.
Admittedly though, I’ve not had an authentic one from ‘Blighty’.

when this massive seagull landed on Ms Thumper’s head

It’s amazing how bi seagulls are in the UK. they look exactly the same as the ones here in Aussie, but about a half to 2/3’s bigger! I’ve seen one take of with te ice cream from a cone when I was in Cornwall.

PeterH: please share your recipe, it sounds unbelievably good!

Four and Twenty used to make good ones, but deleted the line years ago. I like the ones from the Hotline bakery in Sturt St Mall, Ballarat. No peas or carrots, but very yummy.

American Gods-inspired attempts at making or finding good pastys around Canberra were universally unsuccessful in the MSG-free household.

Grew up on these things in Broken Hill. (might have been the cornish mining community influence). One any visit back I get a pack of 50 or so pack them on ice in an esky specifically taken for the purpose and then keep them in the freezer for a quick snack…

Although they seem a lot smaller than when I remember as a kid and now give me indigestion…but its still worth it 🙂

Lovely place Thumper, beautiful.

I’m not surprised: I’ve never had an edible pasty in my life! The Italian equivalent, the calzone, is a masterpiece though. Not that I have ever had a good one in Australia that wasn’t homemade my someone’s mum (yes, motherhood is a prerequisite for making good calzones).

I make my own pasties too.

Agree with Peter, although mine must have swede or turnip in them. Resisting the urge to prissy them up with herbs and extra ingredients is difficult, but ultimately worthwhile.

Shamefully, I even make chicken turnovers and refer to them as pasties.

I’m surprised, what with the Cornish connection to Aus, that good pastys are not more widespread.

make my own cornish pasties, family recipe. lots of Worcestershire sauce, leftover lamb roast minced, veges – potato, onion (or leek), carrot and peas. they never seem to last long, especially if my granny or mother are in town.

the best pasty I have ever had was in woodville park, at a little bakery tucked out the back of a corner store. nothing compares to the Sth australian pasty. closest thing to cornwall, my granny tells me.

Thumper; “Looe” surely?

http://www.looe.org/

Haven’t found decent ones in Canberra.

I was in Tasmania last October, and they do know how to make pasties there (Launceston).

I think we should refer to them as a tiddly oggy from now on. I love that name 🙂

Unfortunately yet to find a decent pastie in Canberra. If you find yourself in Ipswich, in QLD, try one from Billy Macs bakery. A truly solid pastie with sizable lumps of beef, potato, carrots and peas. Like a true pasty it could survive a fall from a 20 story building intact.

Oh god, I’m drooling just typing that lot out. I’m going to get a batch of them in the oven now. Luckily I’ve got some pastry ready in the fridge.