Before meeting me, my wife (The Pasty Girl) had never had a pasty and had never been to the Upper Peninsula. Now, she could write this article about the infamous Michigan pasty.
That’s what happens. You try one and it stays with you. At least, it stays in your belly for probably a little too long.
A pasty (PASS-tee, rhymes with… genioplasty) is a hand-held meat pie. Beef, potato, onion and rutabaga (some variations have carrots), stuffed inside a pastry crust, folded, crimped shut and baked. No sauce inside. No gimmicks. It’s been the food of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula since the 1800s and up there, it’s not a meal. It’s identity. It’s what you grew up eating, what your grandmother made and what you argue about at Thanksgiving or with the local gas station attendant.
I’ve been eating pasties since I was a kid. I’ve eaten them out of paper bags in parking lots off US-2, driven hours because somebody said a place on a back road was worth it, and rated every single one. The pasty is the most important food in Michigan that most of the country has never heard of.
Michigan Pasty History: How It Got Here
The pasty came from Cornwall, England, the far southwest corner where mining goes back centuries. Cornish miners needed something portable that could stay warm underground for hours. Something they could eat without a fork. The pasty checked every box.
That thick crimped edge running along the top was the handle. Miners would hold the pasty by the crust, eat the filling and toss the crimp for the “knockers” (small, gnome-like creatures). Their hands were covered in arsenic and all kinds of mine dust, so the handle kept the bad stuff away from the food. Some wives carved initials into the dough so each miner could tell his pasty apart from the next guy’s in the dark.
When copper and iron were discovered in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1840s, the Cornish came over to work the mines around the Keweenaw Peninsula and the Marquette Iron Range. They brought their mining knowledge. They also brought the pasty.
How the Pasty Took Over the U.P.
The Cornish weren’t alone in those mines. Finnish, Swedish, Irish, Italian, Polish, German and French immigrants were all working the same ground. The Cornish had the most mining experience, so the other groups picked up a lot from them. Including the pasty.
But they didn’t just copy it. Every group messed with it. The Finns are generally credited with swapping in carrots where the Cornish used rutabaga, or “swede,” as they called it. That single decision started what might be the longest-running food argument in the Upper Peninsula. Carrots or rutabaga or both.
I posted a picture of a pasty with carrots once and got a diatribe on why it was idiotic. Since that, I try to avoid any carrot-related confrontation.
The mines eventually slowed down and closed. The pasty shops didn’t. Families passed down recipes. Small bakeries and roadside shops became the places you go. Drive through the U.P. today on US-2, M-28, US-41… you’ll see hand-painted signs for pasties everywhere.
Lawry’s out of Ishpeming has been at it since 1946. Dobber’s has been around since the late ’60s. Some of these places haven’t changed their recipe or their building in decades. That’s the point.
What’s Inside a Michigan Pasty
The traditional pasty has beef or steak, potato, onion, rutabaga and seasoning. Salt, pepper. Butter or lard is used to make the crust (lard for the real ones). That’s it. Purists will tell you anything beyond that isn’t a real pasty, which I kind of disagree with.
Yes, there are traditional pasties, but I’ve had many different variations that deserve praise as a pasty.
Michigan pasties are very close to Cornish pasties but not quite. Cornish have strict requirements, but due to the many immigrants in Michigan, the type of pasty changes by town or even by shop in the same town. At their core, they are still similar… for the most part.
The ratio is everything. I’ve had pasties where the potatoes took over every bite. Just dry, starchy filler with beef hiding somewhere in the middle. I’ve had others where the meat was plentiful on every bite with the perfect amount of potato and onion backing it up. The good shops have spent decades dialing this in. You can taste when they’ve figured it out.
Then there’s the crust. If you’ve read my reviews, you know I go hard on crust. A good crust has flake, crisp and a golden color. The handle, that crimped edge, should be sturdy enough to actually hold. Some shops use lard, which gives it that extra flakiness. I’ve had crusts that were more like soggy piecrust. I’ve had others where the flake alone was worth a two-hour drive. The Pasty Oven’s near Iron Mountain has a crust that I often think about. The flakiness is something other shops need to take note of.
You’ll find chicken pasties, pizza pasties, breakfast pasties, all kinds of variations. But the classic beef/steak pasty is the original and it’s the only one I review.
How Do You Say Pasty in Michigan? (And How Do You Eat One?)
We covered the pronunciation, but it’s worth repeating because people get it wrong constantly. PASS-tee. Not PASTE-ee. The other thing is a completely different product and if you mix them up in the U.P., well, they’re used to it.
How you eat it is another thing people argue about. There are camps and they all think they’re right.
Ketchup. Half the U.P. grew up dunking their pasty in ketchup. Many places have packets of it sitting out front. The other half thinks ketchup on a pasty should be a crime.
Gravy. Brown gravy on the side. Gives it a pot pie kind of feel. If a shop offers it, try it once. You’ll know pretty quick if it’s for you.
Butter. Split the pasty open while it’s hot, drop a pat of butter inside. Old school.
Plain. Nothing on it. If the pasty is good enough, if the seasoning is right and the ratio is there, you don’t need anything else. If you do need something, that tells you about the pasty. For my reviews, I only eat pasties by themselves. Everyone gets a level playing field.
Where to Find the Best Pasties in Michigan
I’ve reviewed pasty shops across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, even Canada. There are still hundreds and probably thousands more I have to get to.
I have a rating system that covers taste, crust, presentation, the shop and whether I’d go back. Every review is on this site.
If you’re trying to figure out where to start, check the Pasty Rankings or use the Pasty Finder to search by area. The Pasty Trail and The Pasty Trail 2 are also worth perusing if you’re planning a trip to the U.P.
The best pasties almost always come from the small, family-run shops that have been doing it for decades. The building hasn’t been updated since 1975. The sign out front is hand-painted. And the pasty is better than anything you expected.
Go, order, eat. You’ll get it.