The signs appear every few miles as you drive across Northern Michigan — “Pasties”… “Freshly Baked Pasties”… “Hot pasties for Sale.” If you thought these were a culinary staple found only in Cornwall, England, think again. Cornish miners who emigrated to work in the copper mines brought their favorite food with them to Michigan where you can sample it today at the Mackinaw Pastie and Cooker Company in Mackinaw City.

So what exactly are Michigan pasties as they are known locally? Traditionally, a pasty is a pocket of pastry filled with beef, potato, onion, rutabaga, and spices and baked in the oven until it is golden brown. The Hunt family (Dick, Jean, daughter, Donna, and son, Rob have been making pasties since 1983 when they purchased the Mackinaw Pastie Shop from the previous owners, Bill Grew and his wife, Wanda. Wanda’s grandmother had emigrated to Michigan from Cornwall and the Grews made pasties using the grandmother’s original recipe.

The Hunts continue making pasties according to the traditional recipe but have also introduced some variations. You can now buy chicken pasties or vegetable and cheese pasties. As a number of customers have said that they would like the pastie to be moister, Dick has also introduced an optional side of gravy as well as offering choices of other toppings such as marinara sauce or sour cream.

Over 400 pasties are baked daily at the two Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company stores. Only the freshest ingredients are used. “None of our ingredients have been frozen,” says Jean. She also relates how the pastie has become a staple in northern Michigan. According to her, the Cornish miners were hired for their technical expertise. Italians and Finns were hired to provide the labor. The wives of the miners would bake meat and vegetables in a crust and wrap the pie in layers of linen or newspapers for their husbands to eat for lunch. The miners loved them because they could put them in a pocket and pull them out to eat underground without having to stop.

Over time different immigrant groups added their own touches so that some pasties made on the Upper Peninsula deviate from the traditional filling in that they include carrots and peas in the mix. The manner in which the pastie is folded has also evolved from the way they are made in Cornwall, where they are sealed with a crimp on the side. In Michigan, the pastie is folded in half and the two ends are enveloped into the middle. Pasties in parts of the Upper Peninsula are folded in other ways, depending on the creativity of the chef.

We stop twice at the Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company during our travels to Michigan to sample the pasties as well as the delicious freshly -baked homemade cookies that were added to the menu in 2000. The store is filled with young and old –bikers, joggers, grandparents, children — all enjoying their meal and then buying a few dozen frozen pasties to take home with them. The Detroit Free Press has rated the Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company in the top three for several years in a row. What was once a favorite of the miners is now appreciated by new generations.

IF YOU GO
The Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company has stores in two locations. The first is 117 West Jamet Mackinaw City, MI (tel 231-436-8202. Take exit 339 on the I-75; it is open year-round. The second is at 516 South Huron, Mackinaw City, MI (tel 231-436-5113) and is open seasonally. If you can’t get there yourself, during the winter months, the Hunts will be happy to mail you a dozen  frozen pasties.

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