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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2010)
CHOW! SPRING 2010 THE PERFECT PORTABLE FOOD Pasties, Eugene style WORDS BY DARCY WALLACE | PHOTOS BY TRASK BEDORTHA E ver wanted to try a Cornish pasty? The delectable combina- tion of meat and vegetables wrapped up inside a dough crust? You must have had a hard time, since hardly anyone’s served them in Eugene. Until now. Cousin Jack’s Pasty Co. specializes in the traditional Cornish pasty — and every variation you can think of. Owners Dave Clark and Kim Gibson make up to 800 pasties per day, but unlike many other fro- zen food makers, they use only local ingre- dients whenever possible, such as Tillamook cheddar, beef from Knee Deep Cattle Co. and vegetables grown in Lane and Linn counties. The pasty (that’s pronounced past-ie, not pay-stie) was eaten by Cornish miners hundreds of years ago and later by Finnish miners as well. Workers needed a hearty meal to last the day since they often couldn’t leave until the day’s work was done. The solution was to bake meat and vegetables left over from dinner inside dough, a little like a calzone or a meat pie. The dough kept food warm for hours, and miners could eat the filling and throw away the crust, since their hands would be covered in minerals and arsenic after working half the day. The crusts, Gibson says, were offerings to the spirits of the mines, who in return might give the workers protection. Pasties often had beef, potatoes and either rutaba- gas or turnips depending on region. Carrots, however, are a major subject of debate. “We do put carrots into two of our pasties because they’re so delicious,” Gibson says. She also says peas are some- times considered taboo as well. When Gibson and Clark met, they dis- covered some commonalities. Clark worked in the restaurant industry and Gibson had several years of experience running Lochmead Dairy. She says Clark lived in England, where pasties were as prolific as hamburgers in the U.S., for a year and a chow.eugeneweekly.com Kim Gibson and Dave Clark half. He found it odd that, despite their immense popularity overseas, pasties were so rare in Oregon. “We decided now is the time for Eugene to have pasties,” she says. An average day at Cousin Jack’s begins with the dough. They use flour and butter with organic palm shortening, but the unique ingredient is orange juice, which Gibson says makes the crust extra flaky. The dough is then divided into rounds and rolled up, ready to be filled. The next day, employees dice up vegeta- bles, potatoes, mushrooms and any other ingredients for whatever pasties they’re making that day. The mixture gets scooped into the dough rounds and “sealed” inside with turnover hand-crank machines, then cooked and frozen for shipment to local, organic food stores. Gibson says she can make about 80 at once and 400-800 in a day, depending on the number of ingredi- ents and complexity of the recipe. But these aren’t assembly-line Hot Pockets: Cousin Jack’s makes broccoli and cheese, cheeseburger, pesto lamb and Steak n’ Ale pasties, among several others. Steak for the Steak n’ Ale marinates in Ninkasi Oatis Stout, and in return the Ninkasi tast- ing room sells some of Cousin Jack’s pasties. “The barter system is alive and well in Eugene!” Gibson says. Clark is a fanatic about pasty history, which he says dates back over 800 years. Some Cornish citizens claim ownership of the pasty, and they say it mustn’t have car- rots. But inhabitants of Devon say their reci- pe came 100 years earlier, and carrots are perfectly acceptable. Another big deal, Clark says, is how one crimps the pasty dough: It’s either along the top, as made in Devon, or, according to Cornish tradition, along the side. Pasties go back to the days of Shakespeare, who refer- enced them in some of his plays. Pasties were even part of the lives of some Round Table knights. Almost every country seems to have their version of the pasty, from meat pies to the Russian pirozhki to mass-pro- duced Hot Pockets. With Cousin Jack’s, you can have your pasty and eat it too. ■ Cousin Jack’s pasties are available hot at the UO’s Court Café, Gary’s Coffee, Max’s, the Ninkasi Tasting Room and local Dari-Marts. You can find them in the freezer case at Capella, The Kiva, Friendly Street Market, Long’s, Market of Choice, New Frontier, Red Barn and Sundance. Cousin Jack’s also has a stand at the Lane County Farmers’ Market. For more info and a complete list of outlets, see www.cousinjackspasty.com CHOW! APRIL 1, 2010 3
