Original subtitles

The Cornish pasty, this pastry-based meal

for one is a British classic.

[music playing] [sizzling]

We get through 120 million of them a year.

Laid end to end, that's enough to stretch from here to Bangkok

and back.

To be labeled as Cornish pasties,

every single one of them needs to be made in Cornwall.

[GREGG WALLACE] That's because, legally,

they have protected geographical status.

You can't go making them anywhere else.

So to find out how they're made,

I've come here to the biggest Cornish pasty factory

in the world.

Whoa! That's a swede avalanche!

[GREGG WALLACE] I'm Greew Wallace.

- Oh, it's stuck. - Now you've ruined--

- It's sticking it! - It's sticking.

[GREGG WALLACE] And I'm getting a much-needed

lesson in pastry management--

- Whoa. - [DAVID IRON] Whoa!

- [GREGG WALLACE] - -and flavorful fillings.

[RICHARD BAIN] For a proper Cornish pasty,

it's got to be baked from raw ingredients.

I didn't know that.

[CHERRY HEALEY] I'm Cherry Healey.

I'll be getting to the root of what

goes into this savory treat.

- Ah, it's really hard. - I know. Now a little bit more.

[CHERRY HEALEY] [laughs] It's like I'm

- carving a Sunday roast. - [laughs]

[GREGG WALLACE] And historian RUTH GOODMAN

is unearthing the truths behind some common pasty myths.

I've heard the crimp around the edge

was used just as a handle.

Sorry, I'm not going to go along with this.

You're not convinced?

[whirring]

[GREGG WALLACE] Over the next 24 hours,

180,000 Cornish pasties

will fly out the door of this bakery.

Welcome to "Inside the Factory."

[music playing]

[music playing]

This is the Ginsters bakery in the town

of Callington, Cornwall.

This 20 acre site makes over 3 million

savory pastries every week.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] From chicken and mushroom to steak slices.

But today, we're looking at how they make

their large Cornish pasties.

In order to be called Cornish, they not only have to be made

in Cornwall, but they can only contain

three specific vegetables-- onion, potato and swede.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] The first of today's vegetable

deliveries is arriving at the bakery's intake area.

Where I'm meeting Production Director Richard Bain.

- Good morning. - And to you.

What have you got there, fresh batch of swedes?

[RICHARD BAIN] Exactly right.

So how much swede have you got in here now?

- 2.1 tons on this delivery. - 2.1 ton of swede?

We're making a lot of pasties. We've got to keep

- the swede rolling. - [GREGG WALLACE] How many

- pasties will that make? - [RICHARD BAIN] We'd

expect this delivery to make 184,000 pasties.

- Crikey. - Come on, let's have a look.

- [RICHARD BAIN] All right. - Get it unloaded.

[GREGG WALLACE] Our pasty production begins.

[beeping]

Brilliant!

[GREGG WALLACE] This tough little root veg

was first introduced to the UK in the 18th century.

Today, farmers sow its seeds in the early summer and harvest

in the autumn and winter.

Cherry is lending a hand.

It's 8:00 AM, and swede dreams are

about to be made right here.

[music playing]

[CHERRY HEALEY] This 550 acre farm in Devon grows

12,500 tons of swedes a year.

Farm Manager, Richard Clark, is in charge.

- Morning, Richard. - Morning, Cherry. All right?

So I've got a lot of pasties that are in need of a swede.

I think you might be able to help me, looking at this field.

- Yeah, we've got a few. - Oh, wow.

Look at that. Oh.

- Would you like to try a bite? - I don't think

I've ever had the pleasure of eating a raw swede.

First time for everything. [crunch]

- Oh, it's quite nice. - Quite sweet really, isn't it?

So what is the difference between a swede and a turnip?

Turnips are quite white on the bottom and more purple

around the top, more of a radish really, a bit more bitter.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Whereas swedes are orange and sweet.

But they're not the easiest of veg to get out of the ground.

Oh, my God. I feel like the sword in the stone.

- [laughs] - Ah.

Uh, I got it. [laughter]

Yeah, yeah.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Fortunately, Richard has the help

of a 7 and 1/2 ton harvester

that can pull up 200 a minute.

So there's a long piece of metal that goes just underneath the

- roots of the swede. - Yeah.

So a huge spade goes underneath the roots,

lifts up the swedes.

Pulling it up. Yeah, exactly.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Hidden just behind the wheels,

the blade scoops up the veg and bounces

them over a perforated conveyor, which shakes off the soil.

[squeaking]

Large stones, leaves and roots are picked out by hand.

Then the swedes drop into a trailer,

which is pulled alongside.

[thudding]

- So is that your average swede? - Yeah.

What's a big swede? [laughter]

You're not mucking about are you?

You could make a lot of pasties with that.

You could, yeah.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Whoppers and tiddlers alike, Richard's

harvester gathers a hundred tons of them a day.

They head four miles down the road

where they are tipped into a 9,000 liter water bath--

Here they come-- whoa! Ha-ha!

- [CHERRY HEALEY] - -which cleans them up.

Aw, the swedes are having a swim.

Yeah, this is the first wash that they get.

[CHERRY HEALEY] They climb up and into a rotating drum,

which tumbles them at 20 revolutions a minute.

Bit like a very elaborate car wash.

- Yeah, pretty much. - --for a swede.

[RICHARD CLARK] Yeah.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Now free of soil,

the swedes are sorted by size.

Only the small and medium ones fit

through our factory's machines,

so the big ones are separated out.

They'll head off to supermarkets and other factories instead.

Oh, look at these. Now they're all washed,

- they look beautiful! - [RICHARD CLARK] Yeah.

[CHERRY HEALEY]It does have a bit of a hairdo problem.

Yeah, we'll take that off next door.

[music playing]

[CHERRY HEALEY] A team of 15 people use machetes to give 375

swedes a short back and sides every minute.

So it's quick and forceful.

[RICHARD CLARK] Yeah, you got to be confident.

Ah. Really hard.

Oh. Is that not enough?

No, a little bit more.

[laughs] It's like I'm carving a Sunday roast.

I don't think I was cut out for this.

[music playing]

[CHERRY HEALEY] Now topped and tailed,

the clean-cut veg are presentable enough

to become pasty filling.

[GREGG WALLACE] 68 miles down the road in misty Cornwall,

it's taken 30 minutes to offload today's 2100 kilo delivery.

[beeping]

Once safely inside, prep operator

Paul Hutchins checks them over.

- Hello, Gregg. - Hello, my friend.

Ah, a big pile of swedes, what happens to them now?

They are put into the swede tipper behind you.

And what do we do, just tip it up?

Yeah. Carefully tip it up.

Obviously, you don't want a--

300 kilos of swede going over at once.

[GREGG WALLACE] My reputation for clumsiness

clearly precedes me.

Whoa, bit nervous.

[GREGG WALLACE] But I reckon I can't go wrong

pressing a button.

[whirring]

The tipper uses an eight ton hydraulic ram to lift the veg.

- I can hear them. - [PAUL HUTCHINS] Yeah.

Whoa, whoa.

[GREGG WALLACE] But I've been a bit heavy handed.

- Whoa! - Yeah, you've got to--

That's a swede avalanche!

[GREGG WALLACE] I've overloaded the chute.

[GREGG WALLACE] [laughs] Did I tip it up too high?

[laughs] I missed the half of it, didn't I?

[laughs] yes, you did a little bit.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] We're quickly back on track,

and our swedes take a short, 20 meter trip

to the vegetable prep area.

Here, they fall into a water tank for another wash.

This is the reason why we don't let so many down the bout in one

go, as you can see in there.

[GREGG WALLACE] That's all right. That's not full up.

[PAUL HUTCHINS] No, they should all be under water.

[laughter] [GREGG WALLACE] Sorry.

[RICHARD CLARK] That's all right.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Luckily, my swede sabotage

hasn't completely messed things up.

With the push of a button, they're raised out of the water

by an Archimedes screw and are dropped

into a rotating drum which strips them of their skin.

You can actually hear the swedes

hitting the side of the drum.

That's the high speed it's spinning at.

You know what it's like? Being under a tin roof

- in a thunderstorm. - Yes.

[GREGG WALLACE] It's spinning at 230 revolutions per minute.

I've got a spare one here.

It's got a very rough bracing material we use there.

Almost like an heavy duty sandpaper.

Yes, it is. That spins very fast,

pushing the swede against the side,

which is what causes them to peel.

[GREGG WALLACE] Wow. That is seriously abrasive.

[PAUL HUTCHINS] It is, yeah.

[GREGG WALLACE] This mean machine

deskins 30 kilograms of swedes in just 50 seconds.

Whoa!

[laughs] Peeled them beautifully, didn't they?

They do.

[GREGG WALLACE] The newly nude veg are lifted out of the water

by another Archimedes screw.

- Now what happens? - They are cut into flakes.

You don't dice them up?

We flake them because they cook quicker.

[whirring]

[GREGG WALLACE] Each swede is pushed through a blade

which slices it into 3-millimeter-thick strips.

It's raining swedes.

[GREGG WALLACE] Then each slice is cut into two centimeter

squares called flakes.

[GREGG WALLACE] [laughs]

[GREGG WALLACE] We weigh out 45 kilos of them

for one batch of pasties.

Do you know how many pasties that would make?

Yeah, roughly 3,600.

Big numbers for a little swede, right?

Very big numbers, yes.

[GREGG WALLACE] We got swedes. [groans]

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] 40 minutes after my swedes arrived,

they're prepped and ready for pasty making.

One veg down, two to go.

Next up is the humble spud.

A batch of 224 kilograms is deskinned and flaked,

just like our swedes.

The third and final veg is onion, which is prepped last--

I'll help.

- [GREGG WALLACE] - -because it can quickly

lose moisture and dry out.

And how many onions do we need for our batch?

- 50 kilos. - 50 kilos.

Why don't you cry when they're chopping the onions?

You will eventually.

Well, that's how three veg prepped and ready

for our Cornish pasties.

But when did the Cornish pasty become,

well, the Cornish pasty?

[GREGG WALLACE] Ruth's going underground to find out.

[RUTH GOODMAN] Cornwall isn't just famous for its pasties.

For around 4,000 years, it was the center of tin mining.

[seagull calling]

It's been claimed that the man who toiled at the rock face

invented pasties as a convenient snack,

and that they even helped influence their classic shape.

But how much of what we think we know about

Cornish pasties is really true?

[music playing]

[RUTH GOODMAN] I've arranged an underground rendezvous

in this abandoned mine with food historian Glyn Hughes--

- Glyn? - Ruth.

Hey! Found you.

[RUTH GOODMAN] --to help me unpack the connection

between miners and pasties.

Digging this rock out is really, really hard work.

You need to get energy inside you,and what could be better

- than a pasty? - Yeah, makes sense.

We've got a photograph here

in my miners bag. This is from the 1890s.

Yeah, I mean, that's really, clearly a pasty.

It's a meal all in one, isn't it?

It's simple. It's easy to carry, and it's cheap.

These fellows were not well paid.

They were very often working on a system

where they only got paid if they could actually get tin ore out.

So you'd want something you can eat quick because it's

- eating into your earning time. - Absolutely.

It is the ultimate convenience food.

[music playing]

[RUTH GOODMAN] It's clear that miners were packing

pasties in their lunches.

But what about the idea that they had a very

particular way of eating them?

I've heard, traditionally, the crimp around the edge--

that sort of crust bit-- was used just as a handle

and wasn't for eating.

[GLYN HUGHES] Well, have a look, freshly made.

The reason for that story--

I think-- is that this isn't just tin ore.

There's also arsenic here, and that's not a very good

- thing to get on your hands. - Right.

So if you just hold it by the crust, and then you throw the

crust away, you don't eat the arsenic. But I'm not gonna

- go along with this. - You're not convinced.

Actually, I couldn't even hold the weight of the pasty

just by the crust.

In any case, we've seen it from the 1890s,

and they've got them in little bags.

- It's a lovely little cloth bag! - Yeah, absolutely.

[RUTH GOODMAN] So is there any actual historical evidence

of 19th century miners using it as a handle?

Well, we've been back through literally thousands

and thousands of newspapers and magazines

going back to the 18th century, and we can find absolutely

no mention of it anywhere.

[RUTH GOODMAN] So it seems the traditional story of how miners

ate these pasties is false.

Far from being a handle, the crimps simply sealed

the fillings into the pastry.

Should we go get some fresh air?

Some fresh air, yeah.

[music playing]

And these miners can't lay claim to inventing the pasty either.

[sighs] Daylight.

People have been folding pastry

over fillings for 2000 years, and it's

thought that the first use of the word pasty

came way back in the 13th century.

This is what a traditional medieval pasty would look like.

It's one single piece of meat, in this case, some venison,

some wine with spices, with butter, nutmeg on top,

with very fancy piece of pastry around it.

This is not your everyday snack down a tin mine, is it?

[laughs] So who exactly would have been

- eating something like this? - The fella in the big house.

- [RUTH GOODMAN] Right. - The King, uh, the Queen.

[RUTH GOODMAN] Oh, now that looks good, doesn't it?

Very reminiscent of the beef Wellington.

Well, it is.

[RUTH GOODMAN] So how then, do we go from this sort of pasty

to what we know today as a Cornish pasty?

As always, with ordinary, everyday people's foods,

the problem is, it doesn't get written down.

It's only the posh people's stuff that gets written down.

[music playing]

Over the centuries, the vegetable

contents slowly increased,

and Cornwall became particularly associated with these pastry-

wrapped treats.

[GLYN HUGHES] The earliest reference we can definitely

find to a Cornish pasty is, strangely

enough, in the "Leeds Times."

This is 1861, and this says, "The standing dish of Cornwall

is the Cornish pasty.

Small pieces of beef, highly peppered,

enclosed in a wrapper of paste."

So it's starting to become a regional specialism.

But it's not exactly the same, is it?

There's no vegetables there.

The first reference we can find to

a Cornish pasty as it's made now is as recent as 1929.

It's in "Cornish Recipes-- Ancient and Modern."

And a lovely little poem, "A Cornish pasty-- a pastry rolled

out like a plate, piled with [inaudible], tates and mate,

doubled up and baked like fate.

That's a Cornish pasty."

It's there, isn't it? I mean, the main ingredients--

[inaudible] that's like turnips and swedes.

- Yep. - Tates-- potatoes-- and mate--

- accent on meat, isn't it? - --perhaps, yeah.

So why do you think it,

sort of, finally settled on these simple ingredients?

Because they're cheap, and because they're

- produced locally. - And very delicious.

Very delicious, indeed.

[music playing]

[RUTH GOODMAN] There may be gaps in the local history of

these famous pastry parcels.

But one thing's for sure, those miners knew

they were on to a good thing.

[GREGG WALLACE] Back at the factory,

we're continuing that proud pasty-making tradition.

- All the veg are prepped. - Oh, well played. Here we go.

And I'm with Richard

to beef up my fillings.

The factory gets through 70,000 kilograms of British beef

every week.

Whoa. That's it, a drum of beef.

Can I ask what cut that is?

That's flank from this section of the animal,

sits over the top of the rib cage.

There's a nice big size muscle of it, so there's plenty of it.

[GREGG WALLACE] It's 30% fat to 70% meat.

That fat will help to keep our pasty filling moist.

So now you cut it into chunks, I'm guessing.

- No, we're gonna mince this. - Mince it?

You don't have mince in a Cornish pasty.

You can have mince in a Cornish pasty.

And we mince it so we get a nice, even amount of beef

throughout the whole of the pasty.

[GREGG] What are you saying? If it was chunks, I might

take a bite of a Cornish pasty that might not have meat in it.

'Cause it might all be at one end.

That's right, yeah. What percentage of the

- Cornish pasty is the meat? - So 15% beef in every pasty.

And it's going to need 138 kilos from the mincer

to go into our batch to be able to get the 3,600.

Why do you smile when you say the weight of beef?

Because I just didn't want to forget the number.

Were you sweating up before I got here?

I've made sure I'm aware of the number that we're using.

[music playing]

[whirring]

[GREGG WALLACE] This lot is about to become mince.

Inside this mincer, there is a screw that forces

it through the mincing plates.

Like an old fashioned, like, sausage machine.

Yeah, we just got a big version of it.

Whoa, look at that.

[GREGG WALLACE] The screw hacks through the pieces,

then forces them through three plates with increasingly

smaller holes.

The meat emerges as uniform, 5 millimeter thick ribbons

of mince--

Whoa, that's in serious amounts, isn't it?

[GREGG WALLACE] --at a rate of 1.5 tons an hour.

- Our spare plates are just here. - Yeah, come on. Show me.

So this is the first plate.

The red meat comes through this section.

That blade rotates, which cuts the meat.

Then it comes through the next plate, which sits over the top.

And the red, soft meat that we're

looking for in our pasties comes through this final plate.

[GREGG WALLACE] And there's an ingenious way

to remove any gristle.

[squishing]

What's the, like, sausage that's coming out of the side there?

Well, this tube here is what we call the degristling tube.

Degristling tube.

We're working on the basic density.

The tougher, chewier part of it is more dense,

so any gristle that might be in there gets exited out the left,

and we don't get any gristle or chewy bits in the mince.

The gristle is too big to go through the little holes.

- Yep. - And then,

do you sell that to go into other people's pasties?

[chuckles] No that goes to food waste.

[music playing]

Over an hour into the process,

our mince is covered to keep it fresh.

But it still needs seasoning.

So I follow my nose to the aptly named spice room.

- You can smell it. - You can.

An overriding smell of pepper.

[GREGG WALLACE] The dry powder ingredients for our Cornish

pasties are blended here.

So if you can grab the pepper.

- Yes. - Yes.

[GREGG WALLACE] They mix in a monster 180

liter blender.

Already inside, is salt and vegetable stock for flavor,

and starch to thicken it all up.

I just get some coriander and some white pepper,

- and add some mustard. - [GREGG WALLACE] Right-o.

That is a fair amount of mustard.

That's a hot old mix, mate.

[GREGG WALLACE] But that's not the only kick in here.

Where do these black peppercorns come from?

Because they are powerful.

The peppers come in from Indonesia,

and it's a specific pepper type that we use.

- Is it a secret? - Yeah.

- Is it? - No.

[laughter]

I'm going to take Richard with a pinch of salt from now on.

And I'm keen as mustard to get my seasoning mixed.

[RICHARD BAIN] Tip it all in.

[GREGG WALLACE] Combining the powders like this

ensures that every pasty gets a consistent blend of spices.

[whirring]

A 6 minute spin is all they need.

So now we're coming to our weighing-up booth.

We are gonna get all that up our nose, aren't we?

Well, you step forward into there

and see whether you can tell the difference.

You've got some serious extraction here, haven't you?

This is a down-flow booth. It's bringing the air down

gradually and out through the filters in the bottom.

Out here, you've got the slight irritant of a pepper.

- Yep. - And in here, you got nothing.

So this is all designed to make sure that it's literally

not going up our nose.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] I measure out four bags,

each containing 4 kilos

of my powerful spice blend.

And we head to the mixing room, where all our fillings

are finally coming together.

- Give these to you. - Thank you very much.

- Splendid. - Perfect.

So these are all of our ingredients for our pasty mix.

- We got our beef. - Yep.

Some diced onions. That's the swede.

Are those two at the back potatoes?

They are. That's the potato at the back.

That's a nice mix, mate. That's a nice mix.

[GREGG WALLACE] But it's not an even mix.

The vegetables are very different sizes.

[RICHARD BAIN] For a proper Cornish pasty,

it's got to be baked from raw ingredients.

I didn't know that.

The vegetables are all prepared to a flake and a size

to make sure they all cook evenly at the same time.

So if I get you a piece of swede and a piece of potato,

you can see that the potato is slightly

- thicker than the swede. - OK ?

That's because the swede is denser than the potato

- and will take longer to cook. - You got it.

And if they were the same size,

they would cook at different times.

- Exactly right. - So you cut them exactly right

so they all cook at the same time.

- That's it. - Let's do it. Let's do it.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Our swede goes into the paddle mixer first,

followed by potatoes,

and finally-- Onions.

Now, we're going to mix all the vegetables to get

that nice and even through.

[GREGG WALLACE] After a couple of minutes,

we add the spices.

Nice. The starch starts

to bind all the veg together.

We don't want to put the beef in until the end

because the beef is a bit more delicate.

It's already mixed. Why would it matter?

Well you'd lose the texture.

We don't want it to turn into a gravy,

- so we're as gentle as we can. - [GREGG WALLACE] Right, OK.

[GREGG WALLACE] After 2 minutes--

Whoa.

- [GREGG WALLACE] - -we add our minced beef.

Right at the minute, you've got yellow with pink patches.

It's like somebody's worst nightmare cardigan.

[GREGG WALLACE] Another 120

seconds and we have evenly mixed meat, veg and seasoning.

That's great.

You can smell the spice coming off it.

You can.

In cloudy Cornwall,

we are 1 hour and 28 minutes into making our pasties,

but there is one very important component missing,

so I'm heading to the pastry production area.

Helping me to wrap this one up is David Iron.

- Morning. - You're David?

- I'm David. - What pastry is it?

- So we're making puff pastry. - Puff pastry?

- Puff pastry. - Not shortcrust pastry?

Traditionally, in the home kitchen,

you might have produced a short pastry,

but because we need to have a product that

is both good cold and hot, we make

our pasties with puff pastry.

The problem with, a short crust is, what, it's no good cold?

It tends to be a lot harder to eat, and you'd have

a lap full of crumbs. And that's not what anybody wants.

- You show me how you make it. - So we've got two

sets of margarine that are going to go in.

This one is softer and creamier, which is going in for flavor.

How many of these do we need?

We're going to put 4 and 1/2 in this bowl.

- 4 and 1/2. - [music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] This first batch of marg

has a relatively low melting point--

- Like that. - --which will create

a creamy texture in our pastry.

[GREGG WALLACE] They look like enormous sugar cubes.

[DAVID IRON] Bit heavier than sugar.

Oop. [giggles]

[thud] [thud]

And we've got another margarine, which is going in

to get our lift because it gives better strength to the dough.

This green-wrapped marg

has a higher melting point, which

will strengthen our pastry and help hold it together.

What is in the margarine?

Just like the margarine you'd buy in a shop.

It's made of oil and water emulsified together.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] 88 liters of water drops

into the super-sized bowl--

Oh, here it comes.

[GREGG WALLACE] --along with 224 kilograms of flour--

- Press the white button. - What, the button that says

- discharge flour? - That's the one.

[GREGG WALLACE] --enough for a batch of 4,000 pasties.

The difference between this and the way

I would do it at home is, here, I haven't got a glass of wine,

- and I'm not listening to ABBA. - Would you really want ABBA?

- Yeah. - What's the perfect

- pastry-baking music? - Oh, jazz.

- Jazz? - Yeah, contemporary jazz.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Nice.

Ingredients collected, next we swing by the mixer.

- How long's it gonna mix for? - About 2 and 1/2 minutes.

[GREGG WALLACE] As the ingredients combine,

the water and flour mix, forming gluten.

[GREGG WALLACE] Whoa, mate.

That is seriously stretchy, innit?

The elasticity on it is quite incredible.

- Yeah. - Look at that.

[GREGG WALLACE] It's gluten that makes this dough elastic.

It needs to be tough so that we've got enough strength in

there to expand to give us a puff pastry.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Our giant ball of stretchy dough is lifted up

and tipped into a hopper

before a series of five rollers force it through an 18

millimeter thick slit.

[DAVID IRON] So the dough is extruded,

and then we cut it in half, and then we put one over the other.

Oh, yeah.

One's going up, and one's going down.

[GREGG WALLACE] This all happens because we're

adding more margarine.

[DAVID IRON] The margarine is extruded

between the two pieces of dough, as we can see under here.

[GREGG WALLACE] Ah.

Right. OK, that's brilliant.

All right, so the dough is being split.

One's going up. One's going down.

And then, more margarine comes in the middle like a sandwich.

Correct. That's right.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] This process is called lamination.

When the pastry is baked, the water in the dough of one layer

boils, becoming steam.

As the steam expands, it pushes up

the layer of margarine and dough above it,

creating a pocket of air.

How many of these layers are you gonna have.

[DAVID IRON] There'll be 80 layers when we finish.

- 80 of them? - 80 layers.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] To create the 80 layers,

our dough fat sandwich is rolled to a thickness of 12

millimeters before being folded over on itself,

giving us four layers of margarine sandwiched

between 5 layers of dough.

It's then rolled flat again,

and the process is repeated to produce 16 layers of fat.

Finally, it's cut into sections and stacked.

So this is where we get our 80 layers.

Each piece of pastry here has got 16 layers,

and they're five deep, giving us our 80 layers.

Is 5 times 16 80?

It was when I was at school.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Maths lesson over, the stacked layers

are rolled back down to create one continuous sheet of dough

with microscopic layers of fat inside it.

And that is 80 layers, right?

80 layers, you're absolutely right.

80 layers squashed down into one bit of pastry.

[GREGG WALLACE] All this folding and rolling

takes just seven minutes.

So here we are. This is the end of the pastry-making process.

We've got our 12 millimeter sheet.

It's coming along here.

We're then going to cut it into 1 and 1/2 meter lengths,

roll it up, and place it on the racks,

ready to go to the production of the pasties.

The pastry is carefully rolled to protect and store it.

That looks relatively easy to me.

- Stand back. - Come back.

- Stand back. - Round the back here.

[music playing]

- Whoa. - Whoa.

Um, I've dropped this one.

I'll take that one away then.

[GREGG WALLACE] David might regret allowing me to try this.

[DAVID IRON] Have another go.

Oh.

[DAVID IRON] That one-- at least it didn't hit the floor.

[GREGG WALLACE] [laughs]

It's like wrestling a crocodile.

Well, yay.

- [cheering] - [DAVID IRON] Well taken.

- Yay. - [DAVID IRON] You've got it.

I think he's got it.

[GREGG WALLACE] Each of these pastry rolls

weighs 14 kilograms.

That might not sound heavy, but I'm cream crackered.

That's hard work.

- Have you got a pasty? - I've got plenty.

[GREGG WALLACE] Like me, the pastry needs to rest.

In 45 minutes time, the gluten inside it

will be more relaxed and easier to work.

[music playing]

In the pasty factory, 2 and 1/2 hours after our swedes arrived,

the veg has been chopped, the filling seasoned,

and our relaxed pastry is ready to roll.

I'm delivering this batch to the production line

where I'm meeting Emma Sanders.

- You must be Emma. - I am.

What are we doing here?

We're joining the pastry by hand.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] The hungry pasty-making machines

our pastry will be traveling into require

one continuous ribbon so the rolls

must be seamlessly joined.

Emma has to keep up with the conveyor, which

travels at 20 meters a minute, or the line

will grind to a halt.

Score it. Start from away from you, and just push and push.

- Shall I have a go, next one. - Yeah. [inaudible] for a laugh.

Let's see if I can perform better here than I did earlier.

[yells]

Oh, you just nearly lost that one.

Oh, now what do I do?

- Oh. - Fold the pastry.

- [laughter] - It's stuck.

- Now you've ruined-- - It's sticking it.

It's sticking.

You're really gonna cause a jammer.

- Emma! - [laughs] Right.

Right. How do I get it out there?

You push it up. [laughs]

[GREGG WALLACE] Where did he come from?

[EMMA SANDERS] He just pops up now and again.

[music playing]

[EMMA SANDERS] Use the step when you're going up.

Start from the other end.

Oh, that's why you need the step.

Yeah, because you're short like me.

- No, you-- - That looks good to me.

- It's-- He's back again. - [interposing voices]

You know you're doing it wrong if he comes up.

[EMMA SANDERS] You're gonna cause a jammer.

Every time. Every time. Get out.

[GREGG WALLACE] The seam needs to be perfect.

Otherwise, pasties made from the join could fall apart.

I wouldn't quit your day job.

[alarm sounding]

Oh, this is why it's running slow, is it?

Mate, this is really hard. Is it running slow?

Emma, you've got a trainee. How's he doing?

- Uh, not very good. - All credit.

- Thank you. - I can't do that.

[laughter]

That is, physically, really tough.

It is.

Surely you can get a machine to do this.

Well, we've tried a number of different machines to do it,

but we just can't get it to join and keep the pastry

even all the way through.

Otherwise, we'd get dead pastry, and the pasty would be no good.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] We need 40 rolls to make

our batch of 3,600 pasties.

So we've joined the pastries together-- well, Emma did--

and now what we're doing is rolling it

to the right thickness, so we're taking it down in stages,

ready to put it into a pasty.

And is that through a series of different rollers?

A bit like a pasta machine at home.

You don't automatically make it thin because it will

- stretch it. Is that-- - Exactly right, yeah.

We want to take it down gradually.

It is squashed through three

rollers which reduce its thickness

from 12 millimeters to three.

- It's like a pizza cutter. - Yeah, that's right.

We're cutting it into four strips for the four lines

- of pasties that we're making. - Brilliant.

And then we've got a little bit of water

that we're spraying on for joining the pastry.

- Yeah. Makes it stick, right? - Exactly right.

- Same as at home. - Exactly.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Now, this pastry

is ready for the raw filling we prepared earlier.

That is a lot of pasty filling.

[GREGG WALLACE] We'll need four of these bins.

[GREGG WALLACE] [SINGING] Row, row, row your mince.

[GREGG WALLACE] The filling is pressed out in 140

gram shapes, four at a time.

- They're semicircles. - Yep.

That surprised me, but then, I suppose that's the shape

- of a pasty, isn't it? - That's right.

How long will it take before that's finished

our batch of 3,600?

- Half an hour. - 30 minutes.

Yeah.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Each line of pastry runs under stainless

steel bars, which gently fold it over the filling.

- Oh, I love that. - Yeah?

Yeah. Is there a technical name for that?

They're our folding bars.

[laughs]

[GREGG WALLACE] Each dollop of filling is spaced exactly 150

millimeters from its neighbor

and sits perfectly in the crease of the pastry.

It almost looks like it's gonna move the meat filling off.

That means that we've got it right to the edge of the pastry

dough, so we've got fill to every edge.

So you're not gonna get a bite of hot air, right?

- Exactly right. - Most of that comes from me.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] And I'm getting a second wind.

There's one more process before I finally see a Cornish pasty.

A set of metal teeth press down onto our pastry parcels.

The blue rubber sheet stops them sticking to the metal mold.

There we go. That's it.

It's the first time I've seen anything pasty shaped in here.

So here's our crimper.

This comes down onto the pasties.

Exactly. We've got the inner section, which

crimps the pasty together.

This is what gives it the decoration.

And then the outer edge is the bit that cuts it right through.

Brilliant.

[music playing]

Two hours and 41 minutes

after unloading the swedes, our pasties

are looking a little pasty, so they're glazed.

Nice and shiny. What is that, an egg wash?

It's an egg wash, yeah. It's 70% whole egg, 30% milk.

- Are they ready for baking? - Into the oven next.

[oven roaring]

[GREGG WALLACE] Mate, this is a ludicrously long oven.

- How long is it? - 60 meters.

And how long does it take to go 60 meters?

27 minutes.

Right.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] As the pasties travel through the oven

at around 230 degrees Celsius--

- p-:Can I see in here? - Yep.

[GREGG WALLACE] --their pastry begins to puff up.

OK, the pasties are just starting

to color now and bake through.

[GREGG WALLACE] They're just about getting a bit of a suntan.

I can smell them.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Finally, the golden shell

- of a Cornish pasty. - [RICHARD BAIN] There we go.

Ah, that's a-- that's a nice sight.

I do like that. That is really nice.

Endless strings of pasties.

- But they're hot, right? - Yeah.

Really hot.

[GREGG WALLACE] Our pastry may be perfectly cooked,

but the filling still has a way to go.

The residual heat from the oven ensures

the veg inside will carry on softening

for the next five minutes.

Now we've got to check the quality.

Shall we go to our tasting station?

- The what station? - The tasting station.

- Really? - Have I caught your attention?

- Come on. - Come on.

[music playing]

- Look at that, steaming. - There we go.

Absolutely steaming.

Got a little bit of give in them.

But they're gonna carry on cooking, right?

They're gonna carry on cooking.

Now, I don't mind them having a little bit of texture.

[GREGG WALLACE] I can think of one improvement though.

You ain't got a pint of beer down there, have you?

[RICHARD BAIN] Not just at the minute.

[GREGG WALLACE] The pasties continue their journey by taking

a sharp left-hand turn.

They're gonna fall off the edge. Are they?

- No, no. - Haha ha!

- You like that? - Do you know what?

I've never seen one of these before.

[GREGG WALLACE] The rub a bell extends, then

retracts by 80 centimeters, the slack taken up by four rollers

underneath.

Now in neat diagonal rows of four,

our pasties glide effortlessly onwards.

So this is just so we can line it up

- to send it off to the cooler. - [GREGG WALLACE] Brilliant.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Over three hours in,

my pasties have been baked and are in a spin.

They're traveling through a seven meter tall, -24 degrees

Celsius, cooling corkscrew, which

takes their temperature from around

95 degrees down to below five.

After 90 minutes, they reach the bottom

fully cooled before heading into the packing hall,

where Kim Campbell--

- Good to meet you. - -runs the factory's

state-of-the-art packers.

This bit looks much more high tech than the other bit.

Yeah, it's an automation line, and there's three scanners

which scan the pasties, and they map out where

the pasties are on the belt.

[GREGG WALLACE] As each pasty processes under this red line,

a computer checks it's the right shape and size.

And then the grippers-- as you go along here--

the grippers will then pick the pasties and place them

into the card to protect them.

[buzzing]

[GREGG WALLACE] They're like a load of robotic Angry Birds

picking at the pasties.

- I almost feel sorry for them. - [laughs]

It looks like they're being attacked.

[GREGG WALLACE] The six robot arms use information

from the scanners to rotate each pasty

to match up exactly with their individual

protective cardboard sleeves.

They grab our batch of 3,600 in just 30 minutes,

using four delicately controlled pneumatic fingers.

Does it ever miss any? Do you ever get any left at the end?

Only if it's the wrong size,

or it's not the right shape or the right color.

What happens if I get a hold of one and break it in half

and put it through? Will it go through?

No, I won't go through.

[GREGG WALLACE] Challenge accepted.

Right, let's see if it gets grabbed.

- You feeling confident? - I'm feeling very confident.

There it is. That should come out right at the end.

Pick it up. Come on.

Go on, get it. Go on, get it!

Get it.

[laughs] It's not grabbing it, is it?

KIM CAMPBELL: There you go.

What about our good pasties? What happens to them?

Well they go for a flow wrapper now.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Each pasty is covered and sealed in plastic,

and a use-by date is stamped on the packaging.

Now, what is the shelf life of that once it's sealed?

It's about 10 days.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Wrapped and ready to go,

our pasties are boxed by hand.

The packers double check every pasty is whole.

Robots vacuum lift stacks of boxes

onto pallets, 18 at a time.

After four hours and 49 minutes, our finished Cornish pasties

travel to the 2,700 square meter dispatch area

where warehouse manager Peter Wilford is waiting for me.

- Hi, Gregg. - Peter.

- Nice to meet you. - Is that a double-decker lorry?

Yes, it is.

40 pallets on there, 67,200 pasties,

or 20 ton, if you like that.

How many of those trucks leave here every day?

15 of those trucks leave here every day, roughly every hour

and a half, seven days a week, 24/7.

[GREGG WALLACE] That's an incredible amount.

I never knew we ate that many pasties.

I know. You can tell.

[laughs]

[GREGG WALLACE] They ship 180,000 pasties

out each day,

sending them all over the UK and Ireland.

Londoners eat the most, but pasty fans in the Midlands

aren't far behind.

I've enjoyed my visit,

and I've learned some really interesting stuff.

Here in this bakery, they mince the beef,

and the pastry they use is puff pastry,

which really surprised me.

And also what I learned is to be an authentic Cornish pasty,

the filling has to go into the pastry uncooked,

and of course, it has to be made right here in Cornwall.

[music playing]