What Makes A Cornish Pasty Special?

There are few hard and fast rules about what makes a Cornish pasty – do you crimp on the side or on top? Vegetables sliced or diced? Pastry glazed or unglazed? Made with skirt beef or chuck steak?

There are, however, some areas where agreement is universal. The meat should always be diced, not minced; and for a pasty to be truly Cornish, it has to be made in Cornwall.

To clear up some of the confusion, The Cornish Pasty Association (CPA) was formed in 2002. This group of over 40 Cornish pasty manufacturers has applied to the European Union for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status to protect the reputation of the Cornish pasty. The CPA have come up with the following definition of a genuine Cornish pasty:

• A distinctive 'D' shape and is crimped on one side, never on top.
• The texture of the filling for the pasty is chunky, made up of uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%), swede or turnip, potato and onion and a light peppery seasoning.
• The pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking.
• The whole pasty is slow-baked to ensure that flavours from the raw ingredients are maximised.
• No flavourings or additives must be used.
• And, perhaps most importantly, it must be made in Cornwall.