Honey, What's For Dinner?

 

For many folks, an area's food can tell you a lot about the history of the people who live there.  In this region, you can't go anywhere without running into someone who has pasties (pronounced past-ees, not paste - ees.)  Pasties are our regions go to meals and there are as many ways to make them as there are to eat them.  Gravy, ketchup, plain, with rutabagas, without, cheeseburger, chicken, beef, lamb.  And there is a pasty shop in almost every town.  If there isn't one, you can bet that one of the churches will have a pasty sale once a month or around the holidays.

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Pasties are a meat pie that originated with Cornish miners who immigrated to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the 1800s.  The miners needed something hearty and easy to eat, and these meat pies were the ticket.  The pasty became the traditional miners' food and is now a staple of the region's culture. 

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So, exactly, what is a pasty?  The essential ingredients of a pasty are chopped meat and potatoes that are baked inside of a pie crust that is folded over and crimped to keep all the goodness inside. People began to add rutabaga (one of the big debates between locals), carrots and onions. The ingredients are mixed together and scooped into a round piece of pie dough.  The dough is then folded over and baked to a golden brown color. One of the best “features” of pasties is that you can bake them either all the way through or halfway, then freeze them and re-heat them and they hold up perfectly.  The men working in the mines would set their pasties onto their shovels and warm them over a fire.  Myself, I actually like them straight out of the fridge for a fast snack or lunch!​

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But there are a lot of great foods here in the U.P. and northern parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.  I'll bet you didn't know that Gordon Ramsey was up this way learning about the food here too!  Yep.  Even the great chefs find that the food in the area has potential.

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Anyhow, these are a few of our favorite recipes, but you can purchase our Just Shut Up and Eat It Cookbook to get ALL of our favorites from the area.  Some of these recipes are generations old and very little, if anything has changed.  So, enjoy trying some new flavors from UP north and, if you like these, get the book!  It makes a great gift too!