Found a ton of new shots in the Pasty Cam photo inbox, along with a couple of offers from Meemsaka Mubutu to move 30 million dollars from the Congo to my bank account. That would raise a few eyebrows.

Ryan Rizor captured the broom ball action at MTU, and Judy Steffel shows how they cool off after the game. Actually, it's a shot from last week's Winter Carnival - - which left a lot of impressive snow sculptures around da Tech campus, in case you'll be in Houghton this week.

Pasty Abuse:

CATSUP OR GRAVY? On Sunday, Feb. 23, the Michigan Tech Student Foundation and the Alumni Association will sponsor the second annual "Chuck the Pasty" contest, in celebration of Professional Engineering Week. Teams of students will be provided a kit of materials; the team that creates the device that throws a pasty the farthest will be declared the winner. Contact Jody Scheffler (jascheff@mtu.edu) or Kim Klender (ksklende@mtu.edu) for more information.

TOIVO,

DON'T DO IT!!!!

Kudos on the shots of the broomball action from the frozen tundra. I actually saw the statues Sat nite and they were all basically impressive. There were a couple that could have been "shoe ins" for the winner, it would have been hard to decide.

Wheatman

It amazes me that so far, about 150 people are in that EXACT same position in the Congo! (I keep telling them to send me a million upfront, but they never seem to respond!) (Evil Grin).

By Hungry, Chucking pasties ? Hard to beleive. Save the leftovers.

wit a good crust, you could heave a pastie a good 75ft without breakin' eh?

To: Edie from Idaho - I left you a message on the Sunday. (with the ice harvesting) Did you get the messege?

There's a new event for the pasty toss -The Mine Shaft Drop....it don't break, you're the winner.

Hey is the guy in the last picture bending over from Texas? (He has Texas trunks on)

Are the pasties that are chucked frozen or cooked? It would be a bummer to get hit in the head with a frozen one. ouch :o)

Throwing pasties is a traditional activity whenever the Cornish rugby team goes to the national final game in London. They toss a pasty over the goal post - why I don't know, but evidently it all adds to the excitment of the day out for the fans. The menu for the day is pasties and yet more pasties - the Cornish bakers work overtime the day before the match as thousands of fans go to see the game.

Hi Phyllis, from Texas,

Hello, again! Thank you for the sites that show photos of the "Big Lake". If I come across any you may like, I will contact you.
...yes, I used to live in both White Pine, and Ontonagon, from 10/91 until 3/97. I also went to MTU from '72-'76. I have many fond memories of the Upper Peninsula.

Hmmm... now that's an interesting question for a survey - "Catchup or Gravy???" My family has taken to using Ranch dressing instead!

Would love to hear what the rest of the "Pasty Cammers" use!

:)

Salsa is an excellent addition too.
Regards,
Donn

I'm a ketchup man, and so is my wife, no, not a man, she just prefers ketchup....

Chili sauce.

I prefer syrup. Ever try it? Don't knock it before you try it.

Lots of ketchup, but my husband, who is a newcomer to pasties, prefers worcestershire sauce.

Catsup - lots.

The kids and I like chow-chow but hubby likes ketchup.

Lots of butter and ketchup. My brother prefers mustard.

ya know i never really had my questions answered mr.toivo. i get the feelin u are in the witness protection program. all i want is to see who u are and get some questions answered. we all know charles and get to see his handsome self.

c'mon buddy dont ya be so shy, bet u are one handsome devil. and toivy i promise to show u mine if u show me yours (pic). thanks a whole bunch. hope u have a great day making wood, eatin pasties and being on the ol pasty cam. and what a marvelous job you have been doing while the main man is away. good day buddy

Butter and ketchup with chow-chow and cole slaw on the side. Wouldn't dare try gravy...that's for mashed potatoes.

How about some good ole Memphis Bar B Q sauce?

Butter & salt!

Plain, why ruin the taste!!!!!!!!!

Dobbers in the South (Escanaba) end makes a vegetarian pasty that is wonderful plain. I will have to order up some veggies from Charlie and try them too.
Regards,
Donn

And I thought I was the only one getting the emails from the Congo! Man do I feel cheated now!

what is chow-chow?

That's a choo choo when it's slowing up.

Miracle Whip on a pasty - a wonderfull happening that is beyond the known laws of nature- something marvelous-

The pasty is a complete meal and should be eaten as it is with nothing else, and definitely no sauces. Even in Cornwall you can find cafes serving pasties with chips and baked beans!! If a pasty is made correctly it is tasty enough. I agree with Mr Wheatman of South end - plain.

Here, here for Mr. Wheatman & Jean.. I too, like my pasties as is. Even better is on the very rare occasion when I make my own and use some suet not only in the crust but in the "innards" too. YUMMMMMMY Have to admit though since I love Peanut Butter & Miracle Whip sandwhiches I am just a wee tempted to try MW on a pasty now that someone has suggested it.

As Charlie once said about our beloved pasties.. Fat Free?? Well of course we'll throw it in for free (grin)

Ketchup of course! Pasties with ketchup go together like peas go with carrots. I prefer my pasties cold, broken in half,held in one hand while the other hand applies the good old red stuff! I dont know where the gravy idea comes from, but it seems like a good way to ruin a good food item. Hey, maybe they could add the pasty throw to the July 4 fish fling out at Gay next year.

Plain or with GRAVY!!! I would like to know what chow-chow is, too. Us Hoosiers aren't familiar with that term. BTW, I ordered some pasties from this site for my significant other for Valentine's Day. I know that sounds odd, but I'm sure you Yoopers would consider it romantic! They were OUTSTANDING!!!! I would have to say they are the best I've tasted in my limited experience. They survived the weather & shipping just fine. Needless to say, my better half was totally & pleasantly surprised. We have made trips up to the UP each of the last 3 summers. I envy everyone who live in God's Country. I've visited this site daily since discovering it a couple of months ago. I really enjoy the pics & commentary (banter?)!! Keep up the good work!

Also don't under-estimate the power of cheese with it.How many yoopers ever had chili on mashed potato's?

If you all would like to see some more pictures of broomball this year, I have two galleries posted on my site. Gallery 1 and Gallery 2. There are also a couple video clips.

I always have my pasties with catsup!

Here is a good decription of chow-chow, but remember that every good cook has their own special recipe.

Chow-Chow, a sweet, pickled relish traditionally made in the south, utilizes
vegetables left over at the end of the summer's harvest. Consisting mainly of
chopped tomatoes, cabbage, bell peppers, hot peppers, a variety of spices, and
vinegar, and using a boiling water bath process, the chow-chow is canned and
used during the ensuing year as a condiment.

Why mess with the wonderful taste of a plain pasty? Some in my family eat them with catsup, some with mustard, but I remain true to the original flavor sans anythng to mask the true delicious intent of the pasty maker.

Gravy or syrup indeed!!! Please protect the integrity of the Cornish miners

The absolutely very best pasties are made by my mother who is 81 today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER)! She can whip up a batch of pasties like nothin'! I just like to add a little bit of ketchup and a big glass of milk, YUM! Also, to Mike of Mississippi, are you talking about Corky's BBQ sauce? If so, it's great stuff but not for pasties!

pa...chow chow is a mustard pickle. Homemade with cauliflower, cucumbers and small onions is the best, but Crosse & Blackwell makes a decent one too. If you want to spend $4+ on a jar of pickles you can find it in many supermarkets, especially in the UP.

My brothers and sisters (from my sorority and corresponding fraternity) form broomball teams for the intramural teams at U of M. I've never been on any of the teams, but from what I hear, it is one of the best sports to play. Sounds like a ball, but they have a problem recruiting girls to play sometimes. I sometimes find it surprising that so many people are interested in broomball, that they formed an IM league for it.
Oh, I like my pasties plain, or maybe with a little salt.

You should eat a pasty plain, you can put ketchup on an old boot and it might be good.

Is it ket or cat?

Salt, salt, and more salt. Got chow chow here in Illinois also

Thanks Jean & MH for the very descriptive definition of chow-chow. I had a pasty tonight with just a little gravy on the side. I also like a lot of fresh ground pepper on mine. UMMMMM.......

I think the chili sauce idea probably came from the fact that Mom was out of the other red stuff, either ketchup or catsup, whatever you prefer, as she frequently fed us tubesteaks with Mac & Cheese when we came home from school for lunch. One pasty night came, all she had was some chili sauce leftover from her famous killer meatloaf. what memories! With a baked potato smothered with real butter, (no imitations were allowed in our house), and corn and/or green beans, followed by ice cream, it was a dinner that couldn't be beat. And how what a cold sandwich the leftover meatloaf would make!!!!!! I worked for a counselor in high school that couldn't wait for her Thursday cold meatloaf sandwich on French bread for lunch that I would bring her. yumyum. Let's have a Meatloaf party on the beach? I'll contact the band, or Alex, do you want to? Yea, OK, we can do pasties too for those that might not like meatloaf, but then you have never tasted Mom's recipe.

Anyone know of a place on the web where one can find a Copper Country style Chow chow recipe?

By cutting a pasty in half and eating with some salt you are approximating what the miners actually did. I remember from my Cornish grandfather that there was some definition about how the pasty was eaten. Maybe someone remembers the details. If you bite in the middle and level off the sides you were one type of personality and if you started on a side and ate across the pasty half you were something else. anyone remember anything like this.

ustabea uppeer winter texan

Hey yousse guys if you get that machine please point it in this direction, Weslaco that is and put CELERY SALT on it

how about pasties and CHOW-CHOW...the best!!!

c a t s u p has origins from a 17th century Chinese sauce called k e t s i a p (main ingredients seemed to be fish entrails, vinegar, and "spices")....from this came CATSUP as we knew it....KETCHUP was so successfully promoted by the Heinz people as a mmore catchier product name that J W Hunt switched over from catsup to ketchup in the 1960s and Del Monte in 1988....either way, a pasty's not a pasty sans the tomato stuff poured on top! Check out a neat li'l book titled 'CAN YOU TRUST A TOMATO IN JANUARY?' for all sorts of interesting information on grocery stores and their products...including maybe some info you'd be better off not knowing!

I couldn't believe there are so many people who evidently don't really like a pasty...why else do they mess it up with foreign foods! Was much relieved to see there are some who eat it plain like I do! Maybe with some cole slaw on the side.

Eating a pasty with ketchup, miracle whip, syrup, pickle relish or anything is sacrilegious. If it is a real pasty, it should not be contaminated with foreign substances, EH!

I was born in Ishpeming,MI, and was raised on pasty and chow chow. Chow is a mustard pickle, some even put in some colmans dry mustard which makes them a little on the hot side. My mother is 95 and would still make chow if she had some help. I eat my pasty with ketchup. Good cornish pasties. Steak,potatoes,beggie,and Onions. Good stuff.

Gravy, catsup (ketchup) etc. Wassa matta U?? Ima lika da past witha parmagiana Eh?

I thought my Yopper friends told me if you are from the north it's catsup if you are a troll it's gravy? I'm neither and have only gotten to try them on my several visits up north but I'd say catsup if I had to. :o)

We were eating lunch last September in a Mackinac City restaurant. The couple at the next table, who were from Petoskey,ordered two pasties. She took a bottle of molasses from her purse and he proceeded to pour molasses on his pasty. Said he had done that since he was a young boy in the UP!
I really enjoy this web site. We ordered a dozen pasties from it and they were great.

My Dad, who was born in Bummbletown, grew up eating pasty and also later in life ate jars and jars of Cross & Blackwell chow,chow, but never, ever ate them together.

My Dad passed away in 1969 so you see it was a long tradition of eating enjoyment in our family.Cross & Blackwell chow chow is sometimes hard to find on the store shelves out here on the west coast.( My pastys come, most of the time, from Still Waters)and I still eat them plain.

My Dad, who was born in Bummbletown, grew up eating pasty and also later in life ate jars and jars of Cross & Blackwell chow,chow, but never, ever ate them together.

My Dad passed away in 1969 so you see it was a long tradition of eating enjoyment in our family.Cross & Blackwell chow chow is sometimes hard to find on the store shelves out here on the west coast.( My pastys come, most of the time, from Still Waters)and I still eat them plain.

Pasties are best plain with a dash of salt and a glass of buttermilk. Then for dessert a dish of old-fashioned Finnish viilia (a sort of yogurt made with milk and a starter that is a bit more tart than the American version).

Mimi and I make our own pasties and I put just a little butter (oleo) and catsup. Mimi likes hers with a little butter (butter). My mom and aunts always liked buttermilk with theirs. Auntie Toini ate hers with mustard, said "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it." I haven't tried it, yet. But chili, molasses or gravy or BBQ sauce do sound sacreligous. Different strokes for different folks, 'eh? We make ours in a 9" pie tin and cut it in quarters, like minun äiti used to do. Getting hungry just talking about them!

You can buy Crosse & Blackwell chow chow online for $5.75 a jar from Goodwood's British Market. Oh, and I should mention there is a $6.95 shipping charge on orders up to $25. Yikes! It better be good!

I think Julie has the best idea yet.That's the way my family used to do it.I have had many a dish of viilia,but it has been many yrs.Can anyone tell me if pannukakku may also be called squeaky cheese?My Finish Grandma made something she called squeaky chesse,was wondering if the two maybe the same.

I love it up there so much!! I wish we could move up there and stay forever! It is so peaceful up there! I've been there five times already. By Johanna Jones age 8.

Response to Dave H Downstate, Pannukakku is a baked Finnish pancake. A good recipe for pannukakku follows. I like lingonberry sauce on mine. Squeaky cheese is made with milk and rennet. If interested, I can give you a recipe for that as well.

Pannukakku (Finnish Pancake) presented by B&B at Taylor's Corner.

1 qt. milk
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. salt

Melt 5 tbsp. butter in 9x13 baking pan. Mix ingredients with a wire whisk. Pour over melted butter. Bake 350 degrees 55 to 65 minutes. Serve with maple syrup and jams; however, it's delicious just plain. Serves 6.

The only way that I ever knew to eat a Pasty was with a little salt and lots of real BUTTER didn't know there was any other way. But then I'm french so we maybe eat a little different then the other Yoopers.

Definitely Chow Chow with my pasty. If that isn't on hand then it is ketchup and butter....If I hear of some more "weird" condiments being put on a pasty, I may never eat another one again. Just Kidding!

The Pennsylvania Dutch were the originators of chow-chow in my family and it was always more of a relish. It was included in the PA. Dutch seven sweets and seven sours which always went on the dinner table. Of course PA. Dutch were actually Germans. My mother grew up on all this including stuffed pig's stomach. Scrapple is something else again! I'd eat a pasty plain or with gravy, but never catsup.

My goodness! Such fervent (and numerous) defenses of the "correct" way to eat a pasty! Forget whether or not we should go to war with Iraq; this is much more controversial (or at least a lot more fun)! Just to throw in another idea to annoy the purists ;-), I recently tried sour cream on a pasty. Not bad! but I think I should order some chow-chow from the Thimbleberry Jam Lady, eh?

The "Thimbleberry Jam Lady" is in the RH column on the home page. ChowChow's on the menu.

Pegg,Fla. suggested a meatloaf or pasty party on the beach.........do you mean a Florida beach or Mc lain Park???? I vote for pasties at Mclain!! Regarding the complex method of eating a pasty: I can never make it home with fresh pasties in the car...biggest problem are the crumbs...

I have to toss in my $0.02! Plain, plain and simple. A good pasty made by someone who knows your tastes will already have enough salt and butter. Pasties from a restaurant or other establishment where it is impossible to customize each may need a little salt, pepper or butter. Nothing artificial.

Now, on to how to eat the pasty. Remember, the miners had dirty hands, not just dirty, the mine grime would be contaminated with tin, copper and/or lead. Washing up facilities were not available. So, hold the rolled crust edge in those filthy fingers and bite into the belly. Whether you eat down and out or side to side is up to you. Stop at the rolled crust that you toss aside for the pixies.

Chow-chow is a mustard pickled cauliflower relish. Grandpa P ate it as a side for pasties. I cried the first time I tried it (I was 4). Now I really like it.

The secret of pasty making is to find the right sort of beef. The beef cattle are raised to be so lean now that it's difficult to get the beef with marbling in it- or any fat around the edge unless you get a sirloin steak. The fat from the meat makes the gravy inside the pasty and you don't need to add any afterwards. The correct way to eat a pasty is to hold it in your hands, start at one end and eat your way through it. This way you get all the savoury aromas from it which is all part of the pasty eating experience. This is the Cornish way.

dave from downstate:

living next to the great dairy state of wisconsin, yoopers see lots of imported cheese curds--which many of my friends call squeaky cheese.
i'm not sure if that's what your grandma used to make, but around here cheese curds are often called squeaky cheese.

Sometimes when travelling and forced to stop for a pastie at an unknown restaurent, ketchup or gravey is appropriate...better yet, use for pastie thrower ammo. On the other hand, when we are forced to leave Yooperland, we stop at Lehto's outside St. Ignace and buy a couple each to gnaw on during the trip. Unfortunately, the pasties have never lived to make it over the bridge. I make pasties myself once-in-a-while, but can never get the pastry part quite right.

Richard- the important thing about pasty pastry is not to use too much fat. This makes the pastry firmer and it holds together better and you can roll it out thinner. Boughten pastry from the supermarket freezer is no good. The best fat to use is hard margarine or lard. The shortcrust pastry recipe has too much fat in it -use about half the fat.

JAM:squeaky cheese is a white flat Finnish cheese, it is bland but very good. I have seen it for sale in the Copper Country. My mother-in-law, Sylvia Hulkonen Curtin, use to make it. She still makes the best pasties in the world.....she is 92 yrs old. Her husband Edward was Cornish and she had his mom's secret ingredient..suet...

Wow! Great day on pasty.com. I am hungry for a pasty. And I am fasting to go in for the labwork for my yearly physical, so this was not good!

My mom's pastry recipe:
5 c. flour
l lb. lard
l t. salt
1 egg beaten into 1 c. milk - pour over dry ingredients and blend to make a dough. Can be frozen.
I think it makes about 5 pie crusts.

This was great for pasties as the lard gave you the oil you needed while the pasties baked.

When I moved to CA, my new sister-in-law wanted to learn how to make pasties because she liked mine. But first thing she did was pour gravy all over them. No! No! I think she was thinking Beef Pot Pies.

Catsup it is.

And Toivo, I think some of the questions yesterday were because you have such a great sense of humor, people want to know more about who you are.

Gus in da UP. Pasties made wit UP high speed beef. Yum Yum, No catsoup, no nutting else. Really, really good I love my deer pasties

A2 Royal Oak-I'am just down the road from you here in Ferndale.Thanks to you all for the info.

Ever hear of Meat Pie?? WHen I don't want to go through the bother of making a pile of crust and individual pasties I make a meat pie. For just 2 people, it's easy. Use your judgement and peel veggies and add meat to fill a 2 qt casserole. In a bowl mix 1 1/3 c. flour 1/3 c oil (not olive) and 3 T milk. Mix that to form a ball. Knead a little and roll out between 2 sheets of wax paper. Place over pie and bake @350 for 1 hour. We usually get 2 meals out of this. That crust recipe is good for pies too.
I know some people that ate bread and butter with their pasties!!!!???

I have been looking (and a few times, posting) at this website for nearly four months. It wasn't until today that I realized that you don't have to post a comment under "today's photo". So here's my pasty eating comment that I also posted under today's photo of Bucko.

I'm a Yooper wannabee and haven't eaten a lot of pasties (yet). I'm going to try them plain with a little salt and butter. I'm picking up 10 from Grandma's Pasties in Bloomington tonight on the way home. I have eaten them with H. P. Sauce, a British meat sauce, and that's pretty good. You can get H. P. Sauce from the Union Jack in Peabody, MA. Call 978 535-6256 and ask for Doug Sanders or his wife, Cathy (I think her name's Cathy).

lots of real butter and a little salt with ketchup on the side.

What a lot of comments today - My thoughts on catsup/ketchup, etc are that if the basic food item, whether it be steak, Pasty or what ever, it its any good it doesn't need anything on it. Catsup might be OK for hotdogs, balogna etc - for they are made from meatscraps, tongues and all that kind of left overs from butchering.

I didn't see the malt vinegar listed. For any salt and vinegar chip lovers, a little malt vinegar, salt and extra butter really adds to the flavor. We've had people at the State Fair ask for most anything. Another strange one is Western dressing. Also hot sauce is pretty popular too. ***Sandy***

Sean is that you in the blue trunks?

Pasty with butter, salt and pepper!
There was mention of viili and squeeky cheese... but no recipe?? My Finn husband has been hankering for viili and squeeky cheese! Is there someone out there who has some viili starter??

I have to add my thoughts on the best way to eat a pasty.... share it with good company.

Jam of Houghton...."juustoa" is the name of the Finnish, white, squeeky, cheese. It is available at Louies2 in Calumet or at IGA in Laurium

a good pasty will not need any adornment! But if you must ask, ketchup is good and gravy is wonderful!

And it figures the infamous Blender is in on the pasty throwing action! Leave it to an ADA to get behind a fun time like that! (just don't stand in front of it, that might be messy!) Wa-hoooooo, save me some leftovers!

Where can I get a recipe or a culture for viilia? besides smuggling it from Finland?

I am looking for a recipe for juustoa-"squeaky cheese". I grew up with having it in sweetened coffee.

Kopper, MI
Go to www.squeakycheese.com. There is a receipe and you can also order the cheese from there. They ship it to you frozen. Their website will give instructions.

Catsup and melted cheese! Wonderbar!

Please help! I am trying to find a way to order Crosse &
Blackwell mustard chow chow and cant find a site
anywhere. Which isn't surpising as I'm new to this and
on a Mac..yiks..take pitty on a chow chow lover stuck in
the boonies with a computer but no web site.

Thanks

Valerie