Cornish Pasties, St. Piran’s Day, Rick Stein & Padstow

Happy St. Piran’s Day, everyone! Today marks the national day of Cornwall! If you’re feeling a little rough around the edges after a weekend on the town, or out of town, we have just the thing for you from this most delightful of English counties. Cornish pasties are quintessential comfort food: a nourishing mixture of minced meat and vegetables encased in hot, buttery pastry. You can’t help but be filled with a new lease of life once you get one of these between ya chops.

Characterised by their distinctive ridged crust, Cornish pasties were the chosen lunch of miners, who would hold the pastry ridge with their dirty hands, and discard after eating.

This also allows us to introduce one of our Great British food heroes. Rick Stein is a seafood chef and familiar face on British television. Passionate and unpretentious, you can’t help but be reminded of a favorite uncle as you watch him put together the perfect fish supper.

Rick Stein with his loyal Jack Russell Chalky, who accompanied him on his travels. Sadly, Chalky passed away in 2007.

After traveling the world through his numerous TV shows, he set up shop in the quaint Cornish village of Padstow, where he had spent childhood holidays. This loyalty served him well, as he now owns a seafood restaurant, a fish and chip shop, a cookery school, a fishmongers, and a patisserie and the town has been dubbed “Padstein”! If you ever find yourself in Cornwall, it is well worth going out of your way to try one of his famous Cornish pasties.

The picture-perfect Padstow harbor

We found this great video of “Cornish Nan” demonstrating how to make an authentic Cornish pasty. We’ll publish our recipe for these delightful morsels on Thursday, but if you can’t wait until then, we’ll be more than happy to deliver you one for lunch, or dinner. The pastry and filling are all handmade, and the final product is utterly delicious – if we do say so ourselves! Find us on Seamless, or give us a call on 212-989-9735.