As the sandwich celebrates its 250th birthday this yr, you could have been listening to trivia about its origin. Legend has it that the Earl of Sandwich, an avid card player, wanted an straightforward way to have something to take in without getting to put his cards down. He requested for a piece of beef between two items of bread, and the “sandwich” was born. In accordance to our investigation, it was a comparable desire to take in a filling lunch easily, with out employing cutlery, which might have led to the origin of the chicken pot pie.
The Cornish Pasty – Mum or dad to the Pot Pie?
One particular of the earliest and most well-known variations of a hen pie hails from Cornwall in Fantastic Britain. To this working day it is referred to as a Cornish “pasty,” and appears more equivalent to an Italian calzone, encased in a thick, shut crust. As opposed to a calzone or more contemporary variants on the pasty, it’s filled with savory meat, vegetables and spices but no sauce or gravy as that would make it also messy to eat by hand. Pasties were a really popular lunch with Cornish miners, simply because they remain warm for a lengthy time in a lunch pail and are effortless to reheat by placing on a shovel and keeping in excess of a flame. Pasties also demand no cutlery to consume, and could be held by their thick crusts by miners with soiled palms who would discard the crust after ingesting the relaxation. Nowadays, pasties are Cornwall’s countrywide dish and account for six% of the food economy.
While the ingredients of any savory meat pie have been accessible for centuries in different countries, there are references in cookbooks from France dating back to the 1300s. don pie are also referred to in correspondence relevant to higher rating officers, the clergy, and royalty of the 1200s. It might not have been until finally the 17th and 18th centuries, nevertheless, that pasties became frequent fare amid the operating class. With this sort of an critical area in Cornish lore and as a “national dish” of Cornwall, the neighboring county of Devon at times competes for a part in pasty history.
Cornish Miners Just take the Recipe on the Road
As tin mining was on the decrease in Cornwall, the miners traveled for work to other elements of the entire world in the 1800s, and introduced their hearty lunch recipe with them. They settled in places these kinds of as Australia, Mexico, the mid-western United States, and Pennsylvania. Even though these areas are nevertheless taking in the pasty in a a lot more reliable sort, some regions have completed away with the a lot more utilitarian functions, like the thick crust and lack of sauce.
Modern day “Pot” Pies
The first savory pie makers of Europe would use a pot, and consist of a best and base crust to help the pie preserve its form. Some American variants more than the a long time have completed away with the bottom crust as it was no longer deemed needed to consume this dish “on the fly” with no cutlery. A far more casserole-like dish which attributes a generous filling, like gravy, has grow to be far more well-known. Also, the “pot” pie is generally connected with vegetables in addition to hen meat.
Although the recipe and “use” may have modified more than the years, hen pies are even now witnessed as a wholesome, adhere-to-your ribs food for the stop of a extended perform day. Also, as enthusiasts know, equivalent to Cornish pasties, hen pot pies are a single of the couple of main classes that will nevertheless be warm when you go back for seconds!
