• Sunday-What'sUP January 3 - 05:25 am

This very recent Shoebox Memory comes to us from New Jersey... When I opened this attachment, the aroma of Pasty Central pasties floated right through the screen of my laptop. This lovely lucky lady is Elle Maria Tarkkanen, born in Hancock, MI on 2/28/1929 to Rauha Laurikainen & Eino Tarkkanen. How appropriate that her daughter-in-law Barbara Mosley captured this tasty moment for the Pasty Cam during the holiday just past.

I realize this may rekindle the great pasty condiment debate. My wife and I have learned to cope with our mixed marriage (she's for ketchup, while I prefer gravy), but we've heard some pretty animated conversations on the subject. And some folks tell us of other favorites: chow-chow, mustard, applesauce... Somebody get me a towel for this keyboard.

Thanks to Barbara and Elle for sharing this colorful taste of the U.P. We welcome your pictures of your favorite way to enjoy a Pasty Central pasty.

Have a good week :o)

I've had pasties before, but I need 2 try a Keweenaw 1 sometime.

I can take a hint, Charlie. My brother's family wanted hot sauce (Tobasco or equivalent) on their pasties. Blew me away that he'd gotten his two ten year old daughters hooked on the stuff as well as older sons. I was raised with Catsup but have tried most except the applesauce. As long as there is a pasty in there somewhere set me a place at the table....

Well Charlie, I, like "Notroll" will rush to the table any time there is a pasty present, but my favorite 'additive', like yours, is gravy! ;-9 yumm I also love chicken pasties (w/gravy), like the ones we would always get at Mama Mia's in Mackinaw City. (wonder what time the next bus leaves for Michigan?);)

I like ketchup or butter. Mainly butter tho.

We were raised on pasty...Gram made them weekly, and we were lucky enough to live next door!!! She'd make lots of individual ones like in the pic, and take her old, huge, cast iron skillet, and make a big crust for that, and turn that thing into a pasty pie. Literally...good memories! Thanks!!

Hay Thomas you dont know what your missing :)

My favorite...A-1 "Thick and Hearty" steak sauce, or if you can find it, HP steak sauce.
Mmmm...got a pasty thawing for tonight as we speak.

...and speaking of pasties, I know the preferred cooking method is the oven, but does anyone know of a good way to microwave a pasty or is this forbidden?

microwaving a pasty makes them terible..soggie and all that. :)

Just give me mine plain ...
Deb S ... Aunt Freda made some real good ones, as did my grandmother, and my mom.

I'm in need of one right about now :)

That picture is actually a classic looking scene. I think it needs to go on the calendar.

Davesou, I'm with you, as long as a pasty is not really dry, I like it better plain than with a sauce on it.

Piping Hot out of the oven, small slice on top, peal back the crust and load with butter, cover back up, wait 2 minutes and serve with Heinz Kethup!

Calling U.P. there tomorrow to order a dozen and my calendar!

Being a Medical Rep, my office is in my home. When working in my office, I will put one in the oven and continue to work, when the house fills with the goodness, I know it's been 50 minutes and it's time to go to the kitchen!

I see Charlie still hasn't installed that "Pasty Sniff-o-Matic" software yet that allows PastyCam users the ability to smell a fresh hot-out-of-the-oven pasty, right on their computer!! If only there were a way.......

There really shouldn't be a debate on pasty condiments; everyone has their own tastes and likes and does it really make anyone less of a man (or woman) based on their choice of condiment?? I like mine many ways, from gravy to ketchup to plain, but I have to agree with Alex; real HP sauce from Scotland is to die for!! J

When I was a kid and my mom made pasties, before she folded over the crust, she use to always say, 'Gotta have a pat of oleo in there' then cover the meat mixture and put a knife slice in the dough and off to the oven they went. Good memories.

Alex/Capt. what does the HP stand for?

Taco sauce is good on a pasty. My sweetie likes mustard on the side and dip. I tried it with a honey-mustard sauce, not bad. I still like ketchup.

Uncle C,
HP = House of Parliament. The story is that the creator of the sauce had heard it was being served at a restaurant in the House and decided to name his yet unamed sauce HP in 1895. I would imagine one of the larger grocers in Michigan would sell it as it is quite popular in Canada.

Capt. thanks, I'll have to look for it! HNY to you and the DR.

UC

Today's picture inspired me to go out and buy all I need to make pasties at home. There's nothing better than a pasty for dinner on a cold, windy, winter's night.

If you can't find any UC, I'm sure we can supply you with some when we come to MI this summer....

UC... HP used to be available at Kroger, but I have not seen it there in awhile. However, it is avialable online at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Hp-Sauce-Pack-of-4/dp/B000EZWKY0
Just bear in mind that HP is to sauce, what Guinness is to beer :)

You guys are making my mouth water talking about pasties. I decided as a treat for Christmas, birthday and New years I'm ordering some tomorrow. Along with a calendar. Last week I ordered a pretty storage bench for my bedroom. Now that I'm learning on the computer, there's no holding me back.Gonna start spending some of the kids' inheritence on me:0) Will invite Jane (child #6) over for her belated birthday for her favorite meal too.

My dad, Elwood G. Lohela, used to tell me how his Aiti
(mother & my Iso Aiti (grandmother)) used to make pasties
for each member of the family using filling ingredients that
each person specifically wanted in their pasty. That was a
labor of love, especially in a family of 9 (husband, Matti,
children: Helen, Carl, Elmer, John, Reino, my dad, and Arvo.
Beginning with Iso Aiti and Iso Isa we now have 4 generations
of family members making pasties. I am sure the process of
making pasties will continue to be passed down to the
generations that follow us.

Oh how I miss chow-chow! My grandma would can some every year and we would wait for that package! I also miss her thimbleberry jam sealed with a thick coating of wax! I, personally, prefer my pasties (without carrots!) cold and with a big glob of ketchup! The debate over the correct way to dress your pasty has sparked many arguments in our family!

Funny, I enjoy all of the "sauces" named here -
but never on a pasty! It's
ketchup or nothin' for this stodgy ol' YooperFinn.
But CP, I do enjoy a
good pasty condiment debate now and then. It's
the sort of fun banter that
gets the heart pumpin' and people talkin'. And
it's so much more
productive than some silly regurgitated old
political debate, any day! :D

I guess I should be glad our family pasty
tradition never included butter -
all that lard in the crust left a "heart-felt"
legacy enough on its own.

Do love this picture, and my mouth be waterin',
too. It's a blustery rainy
day in these parts today - good pasty weather!
Remember that pasties make a
great care package for students off to college,
too.

My daughter is in college and when she came home for Christmas I asked her what she wanted and she said good home made food, (she eats in the school cafeteria on campus). She specifically asked for pasty. A Yooper girl after my own heart. We live in Missouri and guess where her favorite vacation destination is? You got it, the UP. McLains Park in Hancock, Mi., to be exact. I made a batch of pasties for Christmas Dinner. My family loved them. Might have started a new family tradition. By the way, we eat them with butter and ketchup. mmmmm! I introduced three southerners, (if you call Missouri southern), to pasty this past week. So many people have never heard of them. We have a mission -- to educate the WORLD!

Time to set everyone straight. There is no room for discussion. You don't put gravy, mustard, chow-chow, hot sauce, creamer, spaghetti sauce, HP, A-1, mayo, cat litter or anything else weird on a pasty.

You are allowed to choose from one or all of these three options: Heinz Ketchup, Butter, Pepper.

Putting any of that other garbage on a perfectly good pasty is heresy. Not to mention it points you out as a cherry pickin' flat lander with no taste or common sense and are not welcome here in God's country. So get back in your mini-van and head back south over the bridge and don't stop along the way.

End of discussion. Thank you.

mr. matero (Sisupoikka):
"You don't put gravy, mustard, chow-chow, hot sauce, creamer, spaghetti sauce, HP, A-1, mayo, cat litter or anything else weird on a pasty.

You are allowed to choose from one or all of these three options: Heinz Ketchup, Butter, Pepper.

Putting any of that other garbage on a perfectly good pasty is heresy."

Hei Sisupoikka,

If you thought those additives were heresy, you gotta see the menu at the Cornish Pasty Co. in Tempe and Mesa, AZ, including the likes of: