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Feeding Montana’s Miners
By Teresa Otto
Pasties, pronounced with a short “a” rather than the long “a” of the burlesque variety, predate Hot Pockets by about six centuries at least: these handheld meat-and-root-vegetable pies get a mention in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” written in the late 1300s. In the late 1800s, they found their way to Butte, Montana in the lunch pails of Cornish and Irish miners.
The workers hauled their pasties into - and billions of dollars of copper out of - mines beginning in the 1880s. Prospectors found gold and silver first, but the copper discovery put Butte on the map. It couldn’t have come at a better time : the demand for copper used in electric wires skyrocketed with the invention of the light bulb. Hard rock miners from around the world flocked to Butte, eager to make $3.50 a day. Through their efforts, the town supplied 25% of the world’s copper by the turn of the 20th century.
Miners and merchants brought their traditional foods with them when they immigrated to America. While Butte was a second stop for some immigrants who worked mines in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Nevada first, others sailed into New York and immediately boarded westbound trains. Montana’s territorial governor sent pamphlets to Germany and Scandinavia in 1869, luring men with the promise of riches. It worked.
Butte’s markets and restaurants reflected its international roots. You could find sillisalaati (herring salad) in “Finn Town,” and ravioli and farinata in Italian supper clubs. The Serbians dined on pierogi, and the Lebanese sold baklawa in markets. Chinese immigrants opened Pekin Noodle Parlor in 1911. It still serves noodles and is the longest continuously running Chinese restaurant in the U.S.
But Butte’s most enduring food is the pasty. Who introduced pasties to Butte is up for debate. Since they’re so tasty, both the Irish and Cornish claim to have brought them to the mountains.
Montana’s pasties are made with beef, potatoes, and onions, and seasoned with salt and pepper. If you’re looking for rutabagas, turnips, or parsnips, you won’t find them.
Pasties proved to be the ultimate miner’s meal — handheld, filling, and cheap. The miners’ wives could even etch their initials into the crust just in case a pasty-less miner had less than honorable intentions. Miners of other nationalities soon adopted this hearty fare, buying pasties from "bucket girls" before they descended into the earth's belly.
Restaurants and bakeries eventually replaced the bucket girls. You can pick up a pasty at Town Talk Bakery and top it with ketchup or gravy. The topping preference, like the Irish vs. Cornish debate, seems to be innate. Trying to convince someone you’re right about the origin or topping is a losing battle. You’re better off digging into this ultimate comfort food while it’s hot.
I grew up eating fresh-baked Cornish pasties with gravy my mom made from a recipe passed down from her grandmother, a Welsh-born coal miner’s daughter who immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Montana in the late 1800s. She and my great grandfather mined gold on their property.
I bet she brought pasties. ⛏️
More Food Media:
Recently recorded an episode with Soleil Ho, and it is now available in transcript form, if you prefer reading to listening!
This makes me want to drive up to San Francisco real quick, just for a night.
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We even have a pasty spot in the Midwest, in Madison! They made for a great, cheap lunch during the college days. https://www.teddywedgers.com/
Tonga Room! Also, have you sampled the bounty of tiki bars across the bay in Oakland?