A pasty is a traditional pastry. It consists of a pastry case that’s filled with desired ingredients and then baked until golden brown. Once baked, the pasty can be served warm, but it can also be enjoyed later when it cools down. Although the most popular and widely known type of pasty is Cornwall’s Cornish pasty, there are many more types of pasty depending on the filling, such as curried potato pasty, scotch egg pasty, cheese and Marmite pasty, and even shepherd’s pie pasties that make the classic dish portable.
However, the traditional Cornish pasty is filled with a mixture of beef, onions, potatoes, and swede. In the end, pasty is just a name for the shape, and the pastry can contain a myriad of different ingredients on the inside.
VARIATIONS OF Pasty
MOST ICONIC Pasty
View more
Cornish pasty is a popular dish that is a specialty of Cornwall. Shaped into a form of the letter D or a half-moon, this crispy and juicy pastry is filled with beef and various root vegetables and seasonings. The golden color of the pastry is achieved by using egg wash or milk glazing, while the interior is filled with potatoes, turnips, onions, diced beef, herbs, and seasonings.
The final product has a balanced, savory taste, due to the fact that only high-quality beef and vegetables from the Cornwall area are used in it. It is believed that Cornish pasty was invented as a practical, portable meal for tin miners who couldn't leave the mines for lunch, and its thick crust kept the fillings warm for a long time.
MOST ICONIC Cornish pasty
View more
Named after the county town of Angus, where they originated in the 18th century as Scotland's answer to the already famed Cornish pasty, bridies are shortcrust pastry turnovers traditionally filled with chunks or strips of beef that was browned in suet with chopped onions.
As the local stories claim, the delicious Forfar bridies took the other part of their name from a certain Margaret Bridie of Glamis who sold them at Forfarshire's weekly market. In 1896, they were mentioned in James Matthew Barrie's novel Sentimental Tommy, which made them popular across Scotland, and over time it has become a tradition to eat bridies for lunch on Saturdays.
MOST ICONIC Forfar Bridie
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.