leyton.org

This recipe description is taken from the Observer, 16th November, 1969. The recipe itself is again from Paul Leyton.

Note I’m interested and encouraged to see that there are many different descriptions and recipes for “Priddy Oggies” (or Priddy Oggy) out there. However, I can categorically assure readers that what follows is the original. I’ve also seen some strange comments about them. I can assure the reader that Priddy isn’t a place in Cornwall. Similarly, this is not a Celtic or old recipe, as such. It’s merely one my grandfather, Paul Leyton, put together when running the Miners’ arms in Priddy in the 1960’s. It’s of course derived from Tiddy Oggies – as the name suggests and the article outlines below. However, Priddy is in Somerset, which is a couple of hundred miles away by car from Cornwall! Regrettably, The Miners’ Arms is no longer open, but it’s good to see so many people interested in this recipe that it survives.

Priddy Oggies (to make eight)

All other recipes in this article are old, genuine antiques mostly, from well before 1820. Here’s a modern upstart, a most delicious pasty, invented by Mr Paul Leyton, for his restaurant at Priddy in Somerset, the Miners’ Arms. He uses local cheddar, local pork tenerloin, and his own smoked pork. The shape of it is based on the Cornish oggy or pasty, that convenient arrangement which enabled a miner to take his lunch to work in his pocket. When, through poverty resulting from the decay of the tin-mines, some or most of the original steak filling was replaced by potato, the Cornish pasty was often known as a tiddy oggy, tiddy being the local name for a potato. So by assonance and analogy, Mr Leyton found a name for his invention. (Incidentally, if you feel too lazy to make your own Priddy oggies for a party or a family feast, these and other prepared dishes can be ordered from the Miners’ Arms. One deep freeze containerful – 35-40 oggies – costs about £7 10s, plus 25s carriage) (Nb. no longer available)

Ingredients

Cheese pastry

• 1/2 lb plain flour
• 1 oz each butter and lard
• 1 small egg yoke
• 3 1/2 oz. grated mature cheddar (or 1/2 parmesan, 1/2 less mature cheddar)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons water
• pinch salt

Meat

• 1 pork tenderloin (filleted) weighing 1 1/4 lb.
• generous oz. thinly slicked smoked pork, smoked bacon or Bayonne Ham

Stuffing

• 3 oz. grated mature cheddar (or 1/2 parmesan, 1/2 mild cheddar)
• sprig parsely, chopped
• good pinch salt
• 8 drops tabasco (or cayenne, or freshly-ground black pepper)
• large egg

Instructions

Make the pastry first. Mix all the ingredients, except the flour, in a bowl. It helps to warm the butter and lard very slightly. Cool the mixture in the refrigerator until firm. Sieve the flour, and rub the cooled mixture in roughly. Take about 3-4oz. of this crumbly pastry and roll it two or three times into a half-inch slab. Repeat, placing each slab upon the other: moisten the top of the pile before putting another slab of pastry on it. Press down firmly and cut down into several 3-4 oz. lumps. Repeat the rolling process twice more. Leave 30 minutes in a cold place. Cut into eight pieces. Squeeze each one into a sausage shape, and roll out to measure 4-6 inches. Leave to rest for an hour.

Trim the tenderloin of fat and skin. Slice it lengthways into two halves, and beat gently until they are 1/4 – 3/8 in. thick. Cut the smoked pork, ham or bacon into 8 strips.

Make the cheese stuffing. Beat the egg, and put half of it aside. Mix in the cheese, parsely, salt and tabasco. Spread evenly over the two cut sides of the tenderloin. Roll each piece up, press down firmly and leave in the icebox of a refigerator to harden.

Now assemble the oggies. Cut each roll of tenderloin into four pieces. Wrap them round with a strip of smoked pork, etc. Lay each little parcel in the middle of a piece of pastry, which should be moistened round the edge with milk. Bring the pastry up and over the pork, pressing the two edges together in a scalloped effect, cresting the pastry. Press down to flatten the base, and trim where necessary. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 10 minutes at gas-mark 3-4 350 oF – 400 oF, until the pastry begins to brown. Finish in deep fat, or fry in lard, turning the oggies over until they are golden brown. Before cooking they can be stored in a refrigerator for 3 days, or in a deep freeze for 3 months. In the latter case, give them 15-20 min. in the oven.

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