Story by Pat Stinson. Photos by Mark Videan.
When it’s cold outside, there is nothing quite like eating an oven-baked pasty. That’s pronounced “pass-tee” for those of you who somehow never indulged.
Finnish folk transplanted to the Upper Peninsula carried these hand-sized meat pies into the mines, where the pasties ⸺ still warm and filled with meat, potatoes and rutabagas ⸺ kept them fueled through their afternoon toils.
When some of those Finns relocated to Kaleva, in Manistee County, their traditional pasty recipe followed.
Every Thursday, from 8 a.m. to noon, except holidays, the Kaleva Lions Club sells pasties they make using a Finnish woman’s recipe that’s been “kicking around” for an estimated 40 years. That recipe includes a filling of two parts beef, one part pork, carrots, onions, rutabagas and potatoes. The crust that envelops them is your basic pie crust, so we’re told.
If you arrive early on a Thursday morning, you may even get to watch them mix the batter for the crust or drool as they grab cooled pasties from trays on a baking rack before bagging them.
The process is orderly, tidy and quiet. The five folks working in the kitchen and the hall today include both seasoned veterans of the pasty-making venture and relative newcomers. Doughboy Ken Kuuttila, (20 years), is watching the mixer to make sure the crust batter stays in the mixing bowl; Herb Dyer, (7 years), bags the pasties; Sue Ann Makinen takes your money; John Makinen, (20 years), supervises in the kitchen; and Butch Dorn, voted Lion of the Year, fills in as needed because he arrived on Wednesday to set up the mixer, peel and dice the vegetables and soak the potatoes. Today, he came in early to shop at Larry’s Grocery next door for meat. Everyone helps with clean-up.
In summer months, there are sometimes 6-7 helpers, including Butch’s sister who “comes up” from parts unknown.
The dough and pasty construction are a “one-day project.” After it’s mixed, the dough is separated into 3-pound balls, bagged in plastic and placed in the freezer. Each bag of dough makes 6-7 pasties. Freezing makes the dough less sticky and easier to work with. Dough is run through a hand-cranked roller before it’s cut into a circle and filled with meat and vegetables.
Today, the crew makes a single batch of 63 pasties. In summer, they sometimes make a double batch of 120. When the fresh pasties are sold out, they sell their store of frozen pasties. There are nine dozen in the freezer today.
Makinen says they may run out completely in summer.
“It’s never predictable,” he remarks.
Dorn chimes in: “They taste as good coming out of the freezer.”
Though the pasties are sold as a fundraiser and the crew works hard, Dorn says they’re all “basically having a good time.”
Pasties cost $4 each and you save $5 when you buy a dozen. (Editor’s note: the price rose in 2021 to $5 per pasty — still inexpensive.)
Next year the price will rise to $5 each, the first increase in years.
It’s a small price to pay for a prepared meal that fills the belly and feeds the soul.
The Kaleva Lions Club is located at 14361 Nine Mile Road. The organization provides for those in need with the motto, “We serve.” Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.
