Topic: Mint and currant pasty - anyone have a recipe?

[vee]

My mum used to make a pasty with mint and currants, but she died a long time ago and I never got the recipe. I've looked on Google but nothing sounds as if it's the same thing.
She boiled the currants in a sugar syrup(although I could be wrong) and then let it cool and at some point added a large amount of chopped mint. The mixture was then put between two lots of pastry in a swiss roll tin, I think.
I will have to experiment if I can't find a recipe but wondered if anyone had one?
On Google it says it's a north of England recipe but I've found nothing which sounds the same.
My husband used to love it and I really would like to make it, so perhaps you could all ask your mums and grandmas if they've ever heard of it. My mum lived in Bradford all her life so it might have been local to there.
Everyone I've ever asked thinks it sounds weird but it was really good! :)

[euronerd]

Vee, my mum, also long gone, used to do exactly the same (dad unkindly called them fly pies), except hers were individual pasties. I've never seen a reference to them but if I ever get round to it, I'll use an Eccles cake or Chorley cake recipe to start with, and just add mint. I do remember a crunchy texture which suggests she used a sugar solution to boil the fruit. Maybe a recipe for, say, candied angelica or something similar, might help with quantities for the sugar solution. I'm about 10 miles from Bradford so you could be right about it being a local thing.  ;D

Geoff.

[Melbourne12]

That sounds most intriguing.  I've recently been working in Bradford, and discovered that it has quite a large Ukrainian community, established many years ago.  There are still Ukrainian bakery shops.

I wonder whether these pasties are a sort of English variation on varenyky or perogies/pyrizhky?  I know these are often more of a savoury dumpling, but they can also be stuffed with spiced fruit, and can be made with a yeast dough or a shortcrust.

Try http://foodgeeks.com/recipes/type/10,28,15,title,0,pastries.phtml for some pastry ideas.

[Baccy Man]

I think it's one of those things where everyone has their own recipe.
I have 2 different recipes for them.

Yorkshire Mint Pasties (first recipe)
2 cups fine chopped mint
2 cups currants
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup of butter

Shortcrust pastry

Melt the butter & sugar in a pan over a low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved stir in the mint & currants & set aside. Roll out the pastry into 2 equal sized pieces, place one piece on a baking tray, spread out the currant mixture place second sheet of pastry on top. Brush with either milk, egg or melted butter sprinkle with brown sugar & bake for 25 minutes gas 6/200ºC.


Yorkshire Mint Pasties (second recipe)
12oz shortcrust pastry 
chopped mint
2oz currants
2oz raisins
1½oz butter 
1oz peel  milk
1½ oz brown sugar caster sugar
1 tablespoon mixed spice

Roll out the pastry ¼inch thick, cut into 8 rounds. Mix fruit, brown sugar, spice with an equivalent volume of chopped mint. Bind with butter. Put onto the pastry rounds, fold over and seal. Brush with milk, sprinkle wih castor sugar and bake in a hot oven Gas mark 6 for about 25 minutes until golden brown.

[vee]

Thanks all of you for those suggestions. I'm going to experiment with them all!
Baccyman -  the first of your recipes sounds most like the one I remember, but not quite the same, although it must be years since I saw her make it and my memory could be a bit faulty!
Bradford did indeed have a lot of Ukrainians and also Poles who settled as a result of the Second World War. There were a lot of Ukrainian and Polish clubs as well as Caribbean people who came in the 50/60s.
Thanks again.

[PurpleHeather]

These old recipes happened because people had certain ingredients and had to put them together to make something for the family.

No two people will have the same recipe for the same dish.

I moved to Lancashire 40 years ago and the recipes I have been given for a hot pot from loads of different Lancashire housewives are nothing like what we thought it was:-

Lamb neck, potatoes, onion and carrot.

The meat and veg vary from area to area. Some get a pastry top, some get dumplings. Others just the stew.

The recipe you describe is similar to two types of 'cakes' Chorley cakes  made with a shortcrust and Eccles cakes made with a puff pastry.

The local bakers who all made their own variations of these have almost all gone now, these regional recipes died with them. People would debate on who made the best.

Just a grating of lemon rind or orange. A pinch of one spice or another, will alter the flavour a lot.

Also, mint varieties can alter the flavour.

Was it white sugar, brown or a dark mollasses type?

It looks like finding out exactly how your mum made 'her' cakes could be like picking lottery numbers.