This reminds me of the Pasties (with the "a" sounding as it does in "past") we learned about when living in NE Pennsylvania. They were turnovers with the same whatever-meat and onion filling as in your pie, although the pasties also included sliced potatoes. We were told that Welsh miners brought the idea to NE PA, where the coal miners adopted the idea. The pasties were piping hot when the men went into the mine in the morning, and had cooled to a good temperature for eating by lunch time. They were really a full meal in a handful. The recipes I have made were delicious and similar to yours except that they didnt have the "baking" spices (clove, nutmet, allspice) in them.
I've read about pasties - they're from Cornwall, in England, where many of the miners in that area of Pennsylvania came from. Thus their name - Cornish Pasties. I've never made them, always wanted to... they sound like just the ticket on a cold winter day, don't they? PJH
December 19, 2010 at 5:17pm