The Pasty has landed!

After a few days wait since I placed the order I was really excited to take delivery of a package of Ivor Dewdney's pasties yesterday. These are the pasties from my hubby's childhood and there's a back story to this in my earlier blog Pasties by Post.

The pasties arrived by courier, still frozen, and neatly packaged in an insulated carton and were put straight into our freezer to keep them fresh. When my impatient husband couldn't wait any longer we took two out and popped them in the oven. They came with cooking instructions so we were careful to follow them to make sure we got the best results.

After what seemed like a very long 40 minutes, during which we regularly peered through the glass window of the oven like two children in a sweet shop, we lifted them out steaming and golden. It might sound like I'm making a big deal out of two pasties but Ivor Dewdney's pasties had only been the stuff of legends in our house until now.

Looks good enough to eat!

Thin crisp pastry and a succulent filling -
just what a good pasty should be like!

So we served them up and what can I say? They certainly lived up to their reputation! I've had many a pasty with thick, dry pastry and with lots of air and little filling inside but this most definitely wasn't one of them. The pastry was wafer thin and very crisp on the top and bottom and the generous filling was simple; there was no carrot, no onion, no anything else - just tender pieces of potato and finely ground beef that had been liberally seasoned which gave it a delicious peppery edge.

The best thing is, as I ordered 8 I've still got 6 left to go! 

Pasties by Post

In our house the words ‘Cornish Pasty’ can’t get mentioned without my hubby waxing lyrical about the most yummy pasties he’s ever had which he got every year when he went on his annual summer holidays to Devon.

I know that pasties from Devon can no longer be called ‘Cornish’ pasties but my husband’s memories go back to when he was a child in the mid ‘70s when anything that constituted a meat and potato filled pastry, even if it was made in Wallsend, was naturally called a Cornish pasty.

Nevertheless, his memories of mouth watering Cornish pasties were from a shop called Ivor Dewdney’s in Plymouth, in Devon!  He’s told us the tale a hundred times of people queuing down the street outside the shop and how, when you finally reached the front of the queue and got your hands on one, the pasty was so hot you could hardly hold it never mind eat it!

Out of curiosity, I decided I’d look old Ivor up to see if the shop was still there and if so, if there was a chance I could get my hands on of some of those legendary pasties so I could take my husband’s stomach on a trip down memory lane.

Lo and behold! I found their website confirming that they’re still in business and thriving with the website claiming that they are at the leading edge of pasty production. Very impressive! And when I spotted that they offer a mail order service called ‘Pasties by Post’ that covers the most of the UK I just couldn’t resist.

Unusually, there is no automatic online ordering service, all orders have to be submitted on one of their order forms which can be filled in online then printed off and sent by post with a cheque. It then takes at least 7 days to process the order and despatch them to you.

I’ve decided to order a box of 8 large traditional pasties (veggie options are also available) at £27.00 including delivery so I’ve filled in my order form, written my cheque and I’m about to take myself off to the post box to post my order now and can’t wait for my pasties to arrive soon. I hope they are worth the wait and will live up to their reputation!

My pasty order ready to post