I tested High St pasties… winners were proper doorstoppers costing 60p each while expensive mushy offering left me cold
THEY are the traditional West Country scoffs we’re mad for – with around 120million Cornish pasties baked annually.
Genuine bakes must be made in the namesake county and contain at least 12.5 per cent beef and 25 per cent root veg, and be sealed at one side.
But if you can’t make it to the county to buy one freshly made, which widely available alternative is the best option?
Here Alex James, Blur bassist, food and drink aficionado, founder of the annual Big Feastival, cheesemaker and the curator of Britpop Wines, gives his verdict on a supermarket selection and scores each out of five.
Sainsbury’s Four Cornish Pasties
520g, £2.75 (69p each)
NICE packaging but the contents are a smidge more expensive than Tesco and contain slightly less beef at 15 per cent versus 18 per cent.
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Were they worth the extra 9p each?
You get a pretty tasty mouthful. This would certainly make a fair “croust” (that’s Cornish dialect for a bite to eat) but the competition is extremely stiff in today’s pasty field.
The filling doesn’t quite have as much oomph as some – this is supposed to be hearty fare with bold beef and swede flavours doing a tango on the tongue.
But this is just a bit too dainty, as though it’s afraid to come in and say hello.
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RATING: 2/5
Waitrose Two Cornish Pasties
300g, £3.50 (£1.75 each)
A BIG part of the enduring success of this British classic is that filling a pastry case with vegetables such as potato, onion and swede was a cheap way to feed a family.
It dates way back to the 1300s and by the 1700s it was established in Cornwall as a staple food eaten by working families.
A few scraps of cheap meat might have been added now and again but that would have been an extravagance.
These look appetising. Nice, buttery pastry but the filling with 18 per cent beef is a bit on the sweet side and it’s too mushy, when really you want nice chunks.
For the expense, a disappointment – as far as a Cornish Pasty can ever be.
RATING: 2/5
Tesco Four Cornish Pasties
520g, £2.40 (60p each)
FOUR proper doorstoppers for just above a couple of quid. How do they do that?
These pasties, encased in puff pastry, came out smelling particularly divine with plenty of wonderful pepperiness on the tongue.
You can’t argue with this crowd-pleaser family pack for value and convenience.
If you want to do better, go to Cornwall where next-level handmade pasties are a mainstay of the baker’s shop on every high street.
But most of those producers work on a small scale and their products aren’t widely available.
If you’re serious about pasties look for the Cornish Pasty Association logo on packaging – but these aren’t half bad.
RATING: 5/5
Chef Select Cornish Pasties
200g, £1.19 for one, Lidl
GENUINE Cornish pasties must contain swede, beef, potato and onion, and the authentic, traditional recipe is a really simple and clever one.
Finely dice your four ingredients and tuck them raw, with plenty of seasoning, into a pastry parcel and bake low and slow so that everything steams and cooks through in its own juices.
The swede makes a superb connection with the beef and the pastry shell soaks up all those hearty flavours.
Lidl’s version is satisfyingly hefty and was the best-looking pasty on offer, especially after 20 minutes in a hottish oven. Really nice, flaky pastry and a hearty, flavoursome filling.
But, perhaps surprisingly, it was more expensive than most.
And texture-wise, there was just the tiniest bit of gristle which let it down right at the finish.
RATING: 4/5
Ginsters Original Cornish Pasties
227g, £1.95 for one, Morrisons
NOT a budget option but “’andsome” as they say West of the River Tamar. You can really see a Cornish miner tucking into one of these.
Ginsters pasties have a special place in my heart, staving off countless hangovers as a hardworking rock musician in the 1990s.
Interestingly the labelling showed that all the widely available Cornish pasties I tried were made in the same factory.
The main disappointment was that none were crimped the old-fashioned way.
Traditionally, pasties are either denoted cock – a left-handed crimp – or hen, which is right-handed.
The Ginster had the best-looking crimp but it was not the most robust and started to open up in the oven.
Lovely rich pastry but I’m not sure why the added turmeric was necessary. Why mess with a classic?
RATING: 2/5
Asda Four Cornish Pasties
520g, £2.50 (62p each)
I’M not sure the Cornish wives who made pasties for their husbands to take down the tin mines years ago included mono and diglycerides in their recipes, but that’s what these ones contain.
However, they are good value and are filled with 18 per cent beef, which is well over the 12 per cent specified in official pasty guidelines.
They boast plenty of tasty filling and are guaranteed to satisfy you, but really this is more like a beef and onion pasty.
All nice enough, but I think Asda could realistically expect a swoop from the pasty police for not using enough swede.
It’s the vital component needed to really make the beef sing.
RATING: 4/5
Marks & Spencer Cornish Pasties
300g, £3.50 (£1.75 each)
THESE were relatively expensive. They had the shortest list of ingredients though and purity is key.
You can use shortcrust or flaky pastry for casing a Cornish. This was a flaky one.
So fragile, it was falling apart by the time I’d managed to get it in the oven. I’m not sure it would have made it down the mine intact.
The flaking outer was pretty tasty, and inside was generously filled with well-balanced spud, swede and heaps of meaty goodness.
Beef skirt is the cut traditionally used. It cooks in the same amount of time as the raw vegetables and the juice produces excellent gravy.
A genuine Cornish pasty should be able to withstand baking without breaking.
These were too delicate for Cornish miners. But they’re all right for Granny.
RATING: 3/5
Crestwood beef and vegetable pasty
200g, 69p for one, Aldi
OF the millions of pasties made every year, only those made to a specific recipe in the county can be called a !Cornish Pasty” as, just like the Colin The Caterpillar cake, they have a protected name-type status.
The German discounting supermarket has wriggled through this hurdle with a “Traditional Puff Pastry Beef And Vegetable Pasty”.
It also has a Devon crimp, which means the pastry is sealed together on the top, not an official Cornish one on the side.
It looks great and you can’t argue with the price but it’s filled with a bland paste rather than the chunky texture and flavour bombs you want.
None of the pasties I tried were horrible but none were quite as good as what you’d get on a Cornwall high street.
This one is Cornish-ish.
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RATING: 2/5
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