Cornwall has been for many hundreds of years been famous for its pies in particular the world famous pasty. There is an old Cornish saying that the Devil is afraid to come into Cornwall in case he is made into a Saint or put in a pie (not put in a pasty as is often misquoted). The earliest "Cornish" pasty recipe is from 1746 although generic "pasties" existed long before this and were eaten throughout Britain in medieval times. One early form of the pasty in Cornwall is said to be the Hoggan which was hard pastry covered piece of "green" pork meat. Dual filling pasties with sweet and savoury fillings at either ends are said to be eaten by miners, another legend states that the crust of the pasty was designed so that a miner could hold his pasty without contaminating it with the heavy metals and arsenic that were on his hands.

Cornish pies were equally famous including "muggety pie" a pie made with pig or sheep guts and spices, and limpet pie, a pie filled with limpets, vegetables and clotted cream. Cornish bacon and egg pies, game pies and many others were consumed with great relish prior to the 20th century.

Star Gazey Pie a recipe famously eaten at Tom Bawcock's eve in Mousehole was a popular dish in the 19th century.

In modern Cornwall the pasty industry has become a significant earner with wide varieties of pasties being made by pasty shops all over Cornwall. The traditional recipe however remains the same potato, onion, turnip (Swede), skirt beef (pasty beef) salt and pepper, being the main filling ingredients - short crust pastry being the normal covering. The great debate is however on the style of crimping with different communities crimping on the top and the side.

A recipe for muggety pie can be found by clicking here.

A recipe for traditional pasty can be found here.

A recipe for Cornish Bacon and Egg Pie can be found here.