Pasties (Pass + tees) are traditional hand pies that originated in England, and were eaten as lunch by miners. They made their way around the world with Cornish miners, and one of the places they ended up was in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Both of my parents were raised in the U.P. so I grew up eating pasties. The traditional upper Michigan pasty contains beef, potatoes, rutabaga, and onion. Carrots would sometimes be included in addition to or in place of the rutabaga.
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<br />When I make pasties I use my mom's crust recipe (which she got from her mom.) The only alteration I've made is to use butter instead of margarine. The crust is almost a cross between pie dough and bread dough with a little bit of choux thrown in the mix. It is easy to work with, and makes a perfect containment system for the filling.
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<br />Mom would fill hers with a combination of beef and pork plus the traditional veggies, usually combining both carrots and rutabagas. Over the years I have made very traditional and very non-traditional fillings depending on my mood and what was in my fridge or pantry. This filling steps away from tradition, but not too dramatically. I think even a dyed-in-the wool "Yooper" would enjoy it!

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