Oggy! Oggy! Oggy! the well-known Cornish chant that is the abbreviation of the Cornish language word ‘Hogen’ the the Cornish word for ‘pasty’ and the later version of an Old Cornish word ‘Whyogen’.
Over the centuries the pasty developed to what has now become the traditional recipe that is recognised under Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Protected Designations of Origin. They were usually eaten at crib or croust time and were especially handy for Cornish tin miners.
Ingredients:
Pastry
Beef
Turnip*
Potatoes
Onion
Salt & Pepper
Milk/Egg glaze
The vegetables should be cooked from raw within the pastry and crimped off-centre. It’s not a pre-cooked stew spread over pastry as one ‘celebrity’ chef did and then claimed it to be a traditional ‘Cornish’ pasty.
Some people use leeks, or carrots (yes, carrots) and ‘crimp’ the pasty near to the bottom, or across the top. This is fine, but that’s just a ‘pasty’ and doesn’t adhere to the traditional Cornish pasty recipe, therefore it’s not a traditional Cornish pasty.
And it has to be Gwrys yn Kernow! (Made in Cornwall)
*The English refer to this vegetable as ‘swede’.
