[Sca-Cooks] Pasties article in the new T.I.

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 27, 2007, at 3:28 PM, David Friedman wrote:

> And T.I. publishes it.
>
> As it happens, Chiquart has a pasty recipe--which, needless to say,
> has very little in common with either of hers.

I'm sure. But the pasty issue seems to me to be more than simply  
complex... it's more nuanced, if you know what I mean.

For example, I see Chiquart translations using the term "pasty" (also  
le Menagier, IIRC).

I'm wondering what a French pastez (isn't that the original Fench  
term?) really is... For example, a pate _could_ be translated as a  
pie, but it's sort of not, even a pate en croute. There seems to be  
an enormous degree of blurry, not-clearly-defined overlap.

I STR medieval English references to pasties (probably in Chaucer,  
Piers the Plowman, etc.), but not a lot of recipes. Are pasties a  
regional term, and if so, do they denote a regional food?

Certainly there's no reason to assume that a 19th-century Cornish  
pasty has a direct medieval counterpart, even with turnips (how many  
meat and turnip dishes do you know from period, anyway?).

Does anybody have an OED entry for "pasty" handy? I'd have to dig  
around for a CD-ROM...

Adamantius