grandma's cookbook - My Sister's Recipe for Pasties!

My sister lives in Northern Wisconsin, so when they visit us in Michigan they make the drive through the UP  (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) where Pasties (pronounced PASS-Tees) are a local favorite. Since Pasties are a type of pie, and it is the Great American Pie Month, I thought since my sister shared her recipe with me . . . I'd share it with you!

Ingredients -

• 4 c flour
• 1 1/3 c Crisco
• 2/3 c cold water
• 1/2 t salt
• rutabagas and/or carrots
• 2 lbs raw steak cubed or ground  chuck
• 4 c raw potatoes cubed
• 4 onions diced - can use less
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 T butter per pastie

Directions -

• Mix flour, Crisco, water and salt as for pie crust
• combine meat, potatoes, onions, salt and pepper in bowl
• divide dough into four to six equal parts and roll out as for pie crust
• place filling on one half of each rolled dough, add 1 heaping T butter to each
• fold over dough and press edges together
• cut small slit in top of steam
• bake on lightly floured cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until done
• enjoy!

My sister also shared with me the history of the Pasty and I thought you'd enjoy it as well . . . The pasty originated in England by the wife of an underground coal miner. One day her husband who was tired of having sandwiches in his lunch bucket, asked her if she couldn't put something hot to eat in his bucket. She came up with the idea of the potato-meat pie, which became the pasty. The English were the first to do underground mining for coal, so wherever copper, silver, gold, iron, etc, was discovered in North American, the experienced English were brought in to train miners. This is how the Cornish Pasty recipe became very popular in Michigan's UP.

Enjoy these pasties and their history - share them with your grandchildren - they will enjoy helping to make the pasties and can help with the pastry as well as filling them with the potato and meat filling!

Thank you Loretta for sharing this recipe and the history of the pasties with me!