Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cornish recipes for recipes from Cornwall, part of the Celtic world. This page provides links to all the Cornish recipes presented on this site, with 208 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, for the most part, originate in Cornwall. Otherwise they are modern recipes incorporating traditional Cornish ingredients.

Cornwall (Kernow in Cornish) is a peninsula that marks the most south-western region of England. Cornwall has been settled since Paleolithic times and there are Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age remains to be seen. In the Iron Age it was populated by a Brythonic peoples known as the Cornovii, a division of the Dumnonii tribe whose main centre was in modern Devon. During the period of Roman rule, there is little indication that the Romans made much impact on Cornwall and after the Romans left Britain Cornwall reverted to the traditional Celtic tribal pattern of life. With the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons Cornwall remained part of the Western Brythonic group (which extended northwards from the West Country, through Wales an the Welsh Marches up to Strathclyde. Indeed, it was only after the battle of Dyrham in 577 that Cornwall became separated from Wales. Though trade and cultural ties remained between Cornwall, Wales and Brittany for many centuries after. Subsequently the Cornish frequently came into conflict with the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and it was only in 936 CE that king Athelstan finally established the border at the river Tamar.

It seems that some mixing and syncretization occurred between the Cornish and the Saxons during the succeeding centuries, but after the Norman invasion the land was seized and transferred into the hands of a new Breton-Norman aristocracy, thus Cornwall became a part of England.

Tin mining has always been important to the Cornish economy, from the Bronze age onwards. It became very significant in the Middle Ages and expanded greatly during the 19th century when rich copper mines were also in production. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, the tin and copper mines entered a period of decline. Subsequently china clay extraction became more important and metal mining had virtually ended by the 1990s. Having and extended coastline, fishing (particularly of pilchards), and agriculture (particularly of dairy products and vegetables) were the other two main industries driving the local economy.

The stannary parliaments and stannary courts were legislative and legal institutions in Cornwall and in Devon (in the Dartmoor area). The stannary courts administered equity for the region's tin-miners and tin mining interests, and they were also courts of record for the towns dependent on the mines. The separate and powerful government institutions available to the tin miners reflected the enormous importance of the tin industry to the English economy during the Middle Ages. Special laws for tin miners pre-date written legal codes in Britain, and ancient traditions exempted everyone connected with tin mining in Cornwall and Devon from any jurisdiction other than the stannary courts in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

Cornwall is the traditional homeland of the Cornish people and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. Cornwall is typically represented by the flag of Saint Piran, a white cross on a black ground (see above).

Cornish, a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic language family, is a revived language that died out as a first language in the late 18th century. It is closely related to the other Brythonic languages, Breton and Welsh, and less so to the Goidelic languages. Cornish has no legal status in the UK.

Saint Piran's Flag is the national flag and ancient banner of Cornwall, and an emblem of the Cornish people. The banner of Saint Piran is a white cross on a black background (in terms of heraldry 'sable, a cross argent'). According to legend Saint Piran adopted these colours from seeing the white tin in the black coals and ashes during his discovery of tin. The Cornish flag is an exact reverse of the former Breton black cross national flag and is known by the same name 'Kroaz Du'

As a predominantly agrarian tenant and fishing economy much of the traditional cooking of Cornwall reflects this heritage. Traditional food tends to be simple, utilizing readily-available ingredients, particularly seafood, and those cuts of meat that were not readily saleable. Of late, however, many chefs have begun re-examining and re-interpreting these dishes. Novel dishes, incorporating local ingredients but using international techniques have also begun to appear on the culinary scene and though the overall list of dishes is biased towards the traditional some of these later dishes are also presented here. There is also a revival in the use of wild ingredients (particularly seashore vegetables) in modern Cornish cuisine. Here I have attempted to bring together the largest collection of traditional and modern Cornish dishes available on the internet today. Enjoy...

Food and Cuisine:

Cornwall has a strong culinary heritage. Surrounded on three sides by the sea amid fertile fishing grounds, Cornwall naturally has fresh seafood readily available; Newlyn is the largest fishing port in the UK by value of fish landed, and is known for its wide range of restaurants.[104] Television chef Rick Stein has long operated a fish restaurant in Padstow for this reason, and Jamie Oliver chose to open his second restaurant, Fifteen, in Watergate Bay near Newquay. MasterChef host and founder of Smiths of Smithfield, John Torode, in 2007 purchased Seiners in Perranporth. One famous local fish dish is Stargazy pie, a fish-based pie in which the heads of the fish stick through the piecrust, as though 'star-gazing'. The pie is cooked as part of traditional celebrations for Tom Bawcock's Eve, but is not generally eaten at any other time.Cornwall is perhaps best known though for its pasties, a savoury dish made with pastry. Today's pasties usually contain a filling of beef steak, onion, potato and swede with salt and white pepper, but historically pasties had a variety of different fillings. 'Turmut', 'tates and mate' (i.e. 'Turnip, potatoes and meat', turnip being the Cornish and Scottish term for swede, itself an abbreviation of 'Swedish Turnip', the British term for rutabaga) describes a filling once very common. For instance, the licky pasty contained mostly leeks, and the herb pasty contained watercress, parsley, and shallots.[105] Pasties are often locally referred to as oggies. Historically, pasties were also often made with sweet fillings such as jam, apple and blackberry, plums or cherries. The wet climate and relatively poor soil of Cornwall make it unsuitable for growing many arable crops. However, it is ideal for growing the rich grass required for dairying, leading to the production of Cornwall's other famous export, clotted cream. This forms the basis for many local specialities including Cornish fudge and Cornish ice cream. Cornish clotted cream has Protected Geographical Status under EU law,[107] and cannot be made anywhere else. Its principal manufacturer is A. E. Rodda & Son of Scorrier.Local cakes and desserts include Saffron cake, Cornish heavy (hevva) cake, Cornish fairings biscuits, figgy 'obbin, Cream tea and whortleberry pie.