- With flaky crusts and savory filling, pasties and empanadas have been filling bellies without breaking the bank for centuries.

Forget burgers and fries, these are the original fast foods.

Have you ever tasted something that transported you to another world?

Dude, that's so legit.

I'm Chef Yia Vang.

That's what I aim to do every time I cook.

This looks amazing.

As a Hmong refugee from Southeast Asia, I use food as a way to share my culture, my family, and our history.

(blender whirs) (knife thumps) Join me as we step into the kitchen with local chefs to relish the cuisines and cultures of our neighbors.

It's not just our modern lifestyle that craves an affordable, delicious, and convenient meal.

The empanada and pasty have fit that bill and filled our bellies for centuries.

They may look similar on the outside, but on the inside, that's a whole different story.

Meet Alec and Fiona Duncan, the American and Brit behind Potter's Pasties & Pies.

Together, they're bringing this UK standard and Midwest favorite to tables in the Twin Cities.

♪ The people call me your sorts ♪ ♪ From a G to a gun ♪ ♪ Y'all are all talk ♪ ♪ I'm just keeping it strong ♪ ♪ And setting trends takes precedence ♪ ♪ There's nothing like it ♪ ♪ When we cut the pie in equal portions ♪ - We both were teaching English in Cusco, Peru.

We continued our travels from Peru over to Vietnam and lived there for four years.

- [Yia] Really?

Oh awesome.

- And that's actually where the idea of having a pasty shop was born.

- Pasties or pasties?

- [Fiona] Pasties.

- Pasties are something a little different entirely.

- I know, I think so.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was in fine dining for so long.

Fiona, she's English.

So that's where I started to exploit her culture and- - Did you say explore or exploit?

- And explore her culture.

And the rest is history.

♪ I love London just that stuff ♪ ♪ I love London just that shimmer ♪ ♪ Got love for London ♪ - Pasties are like the subway of England.

They're on every corner.

A fast food.

In, out.

Most places don't have sit-downs.

You're just in, grab it, go.

Some of the pasty shops are open until one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning to feed those people who are hungry after all the dancing that they've been doing.

- The dancing they've been doing.

- [Fiona] Yes, the dancing.

- I know that after a lot of dancing, I get hungry, too.

You know?

- Well, if you need a pasty at two o'clock in the morning, you should- - Yeah, I'll come knock on your door.

- No.

- I'm like, "Alec, open!"

- My son will probably answer you.

He's like, "What do you need?"

- I'm like, "What's up, bro?

Your dad says you guys got some pasties back here."

(upbeat music) Tell me a little bit about the dough you guys use.

- The ingredients themselves are very simple.

It's a combination of flour, fat, salt, and water.

It really comes down to temperature.

When making the dough, is probably the most important thing.

You need to make sure when you're done that you chill that dough.

That's what it gives it a flakiness.

(upbeat music continues) - [Yia] Flour.

- Fat.

- Fat.

- Yup.

Salt, water- - Kind of what I'm built on.

(Yia and Alec laughing) (dough thumps) - And now the best part of the process, rolling it out.

I'm gonna pass this over to "The Machine."

I'm not kidding.

- 300 a day.

- Oh, dang.

- But she is in fact the main roller of pasties at the shop.

- Okay, so you don't want it too thick.

You don't want it too thin.

- And then for you, your family make pasties growing up?

- No, we didn't make them so much but we did eat a lot of them.

We would take them... You know, sometimes it would be a quick picnic at the beach.

Sometimes if it's an after-school event, you can just grab a bunch of pasties and bring them over and it's just easy, quick, simple, filling food.

(mellow upbeat music) Now I know I've got the width of the pasty right and so I know the filling's not gonna hang out the outsides.

Okay.

So then you just wanna roll it back and forth.

And so once you've got your dough, you're ready to put the filling in.

So we're gonna go ahead and make the filling and we'll pop it in the middle.

- Let's do it.

- Yeah, unfortunately, now I'm celiac.

So, I cannot eat them.

- Wait.

So you can't have gluten.

- Nope.

- But you make it.

- Yup.

- Okay, so tell me how that process works.

- It's very unfair.

(everybody laughs) - It's like this really complicated love story, right?

- Yeah.

- This is something you grew up with.

- Yup.

- This is something you love.

And now, it's like, "No, I can't love you anymore."

- Yup.

- You know, I mean... (cleaver thumping) What would you consider a traditional pasty?

- In England, a traditional pasty would be just the ground beef.

(beef sizzling) - [Yia] Oh, that's what I'm talking about.

There we go.

- Yeah, sizzle, sizzle.

- [Yia] Yeah.

- Carrots.

(knife thumping) Celery.

(cleaver thumping) Onion.

(husk crinkling) (cleaver thumping) Gravy on the inside.

(gravy sizzling) Pretty simple.

- The traditional way of making them would be putting all the raw ingredients inside of the dough and then making your crimp, putting it in the oven, and slowly cooking it over time.

What they would do to keep the proteins from seizing up is they would actually make a little slit in the top and then that would allow steam to come out and then they would shave little bits of fat in there, whether it was lard or butter, to help that protein break down.

Voila!

- [Narrator] With his lamps and his food can, he joins his mates on the relief shift, waiting his turn for the 750-yard drop into the bowels of the Earth.

- Lots of English people will tell you they come originally from Cornwall which was an old mining town.

- This thing was created out of necessity.

- They were mining food.

The miners would take them down into the mine.

- [Alec] And to reheat it once they got down in the mine 'cause obviously several hours would pass and it would cool off.

They would then take the pasty and they would heat it up over their lanterns.

- The reason why they have the big thick crust is 'cause miners got dirty hands.

They're filthy.

So they can go down, they can hold the pasty with the crust, they can eat the whole thing, and then they can just get rid of the crust and they've managed to get themselves a full meal, still hot hours later down in the mines.

- When I think of the galabaos my mom makes, I always say, "If you think about it, it's like an edible napkin that's wrapped around, you know?"

- [Fiona] It's a duvet.

- Yeah, it's a dough-vet.

Oh, oh.

(Alec and Fiona laughing) - [Narrator] Meanwhile down below, the shift has ended.

And as night begins to sink into the valley, the men return.

- Again, the miners coming and settling over here in the Upper Peninsula and in the Iron Range and pasty of America was born.

And the number one thing I hear about that pasty is it's gotta have rutabagas.

♪ It's a playground ♪ ♪ Better watch your mans ♪ ♪ It ain't safe out ♪ ♪ See, some play game like snakes and ladders ♪ - So Alec, this is a very controversial vegetable.

Tell me more about it.

- Well, so pasty aficionados or people who grow up with the pasty, if you've got rutabaga in it, you're doing it right.

If you don't, you're not even making a pasty.

Most of the people I've met who are pasty people actually call the rutabaga the beggy and ask me if my pasties have beggies in them.

Or they say, "Do you have rutabeggies?"

The thing about rutabagas is not a lot of people like them.

We at Potter's have made the choice to not include them in our traditional pasty which rubs some people the wrong way.

But we do sometimes do a special which is the church basement style that contains the rutabaga.

♪ It's a playground ♪ ♪ Better watch your man ♪ ♪ It ain't safe out ♪ (beef sizzling) - [Yia] So Alec, what's the next steps here?

- You wanna start adding your root vegetables.

We start with the onions.

(bright classical music) - There should be a candle set by the way.

Beef and vegetable.

- Then you want to add your beef stock.

(bright classical music) Okay, next step is you wanna add your herbs.

(bright classical music) All right.

And then finally, the cream.

(bright classical music) - You'll let this sit overnight, right?

- That's correct, yup.

(classical music) - This is the hard part.

If you don't crimp it right, the liquid's gonna come out and you get a soggy pasty.

No one wants a soggy pasty.

Nobody wants a soggy bottom.

- Yes.

(classical music) - [Yia] Here we go.

Look at that.

Took like half a second.

It's probably gonna take me like 10 minutes.

(upbeat music) - Okay.

- Perfect.

- Okay, so this is where I'm getting a little nervous.

And then tuck this back in.

(upbeat music) I noticed... Like this is yours and this is mine.

- [Fiona] That's okay.

- Yours looks perfect.

Mine looks like a weird octopus.

You know, Fiona, how about like your family from back home in the UK?

Like what do they think of the pasties you're making here?

- They were very surprised that we were gonna be doing this.

- [Yia] Really?

- Well, we told your mom, if you remember, she and your dad came right over and she said, "This needs my approval."

And if it has my approval, then you'll be just fine.

But if it doesn't, we've got some concerns.

- I feel like Alec is like, "Do I need your approval?"

- The answer is yes.

- [Fiona] Okay, so they're gonna go into the oven.

- Wow, those look beautiful.

(upbeat rap music) - That's so good.

It's like super comforting.

And the flakiness of that crust, dude.

- I know, and it still keeps everything right there.

But just like a burrito, make sure that you're holding it so that all the contents are at bay.

- This to me, even though it's not the galabao that my mom makes, it takes me back to that moment.

- [Fiona] Really?

- [Yia] Yeah, do you know what I'm saying?

- [Fiona] Yeah, that home comfort.

- Absolutely.

- Nostalgia.

- This makes me very excited about trying all the other fillings that you guys have.

- That's awesome, man.

(bright upbeat music) - I just wanna...

I really feel like this should be a candle scent.

Pasties are far from the only food created to satisfy workers on the go.

Beef patties did the same thing in Jamaica.

British colonizers brought pasties to Jamaica in the 17th century where locals put their twist on it using signature flavors including scotch bonnet peppers to create the beloved Jamaican beef patty.

Tamales kept soldiers, hunters, and travelers nourished in Mesoamerica even before the Aztec and Maya civilizations.

Tamales were also used in rituals and festivals and were depicted in hieroglyphics of the time.

Variations of tamales are found throughout the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, and South America.

In Mumbai, it's the tiffin that kept bellies full during the day.

Both the midday meal itself and the iconic multi-tier stacking lunchbox share the name tiffin.

The meals were prepared at home typically by wives or mothers, packed with everyday foods like vegetables, rice, spice meats and chapatis or rotis.

1,000 years ago in Japan, workers began using a box to transport rice.

Over centuries, that box turned into the famous bento box of today, carrying lunches and food for all occasions.

Typically, boxes included rice, pickled vegetables, and meat or fish.

The Argentine empanada boast a rich and debated history.

Its roots traced back to the Middle East where open face meat pies were eaten.

They traveled with Middle Eastern immigrants to Spain and Portugal where they eventually transformed into the hand pies we know today.

Spanish conquistadors and immigrants then introduced empanadas to Argentina and beyond where each region made them their own.

Sounds delicious!

And I know just the person to show me how they're made.

Meet Belén Rodríguez of Quebracho.

She's serving up tasty traditions from her native Argentina and winning fans in the US with her grandmother's delicious empanada recipes.

- So nice to see you.

- Good to see you, yes.

- Have you ever been to Bill's Imported Foods?

- I have not.

- Welcome to Argentina land in Minneapolis.

(upbeat instrumental music) All right.

So yeah, this is where all of us Argentines in I would say Minnesota like to shop.

So, this is originally a Greek store.

The story goes that there was another grocery store where everybody used to shop and the place shut down.

So they came to Kiki and her family.

And they said, "Hey, can you start bringing some Argentinian products?

You have all your Greek items on the one side and then all your Argentinian items on the other side.

We have some olives on this side that we're gonna grab for the beef empanadas.

And then, yeah.

Have you ever had mate before?

- No.

- Oh, so you are in for a treat.

Let me show you.

So mate, we sip it as a tea.

Then we also have alfajores, little cookies filled typically with jams or dulce de leche.

(upbeat instrumental music) - Hi, Kiki.

- What you have done, Kiki, is really cool.

Being able to bring a piece of home here for the people who are from Argentina.

- For Argentina?

- Yes.

- Because the lady said to me, "Kiki, lot of people from Argentina here."

Two months, three months, more customers coming.

I got nice friends from Argentina.

Beautiful.

- Oh, we appreciate it.

- One baklava for you.

- Oh, thank you.

- For everybody.

(kettle whistling) (upbeat music) - Like for example, growing up, if I came to your mom and dad's house, like what am I finding on the table?

- You are definitely coming on a Sunday.

When you step out of your car, the entire block smells like barbecue.

It doesn't happen any other day of the week.

You would show up at about 10 in the morning and everybody would be like, "Hey Yia."

You know, that's us.

You would probably meet my dad by the grill.

(upbeat music) (Belén and Carlos speaking in Spanish) - My mom would probably bring some pastry, some mate.

She gets some salami, some cheese, some olives, empanadas, as an appetizer.

Beer.

- It'll go all in the same day.

- It just keeps going.

Cousins and aunts and uncles and it's like, "Hey!

", "Hey!"

You know, it's kind of how it goes.

And then there's wine flowing and everything so- - I mean, that is a full marathon, right?

- The emotions, the happiness, the laughter, like nothing else mattered but that moment.

And that's really what started Quebracho.

I wanted to replicate the experience of a Sunday in Argentina.

And then we all gather at the table for what?

Mate.

(water boiling) - Can I tell you something?

I get really nervous with hot drinks.

- [Belén] It's very hot.

- Yeah.

To me it has this tea flavor, but it's like very intense, you know?

It's not like a light tea.

- [Belén] Exactly.

- And the bitter notes, I actually really like it 'cause with Hmong food, bitterness is a flavor that we use a lot.

Kind of like in life, you need a little bitterness.

- Exactly.

(upbeat instrumental music) - So, we're gonna be assembling beef empanadas.

I'm gonna have you work on pitting the olives.

- Growing up, was this the idea for you?

Like did you want to run your own business, be in the food industry?

Take me back.

- My background is actually in translation.

I found myself missing home a lot.

Oh.

- Am I doing this right?

- I think so.

And really I started cooking, that was an escape for me and that's how I started feeling connected back home eating the foods that I had grown up eating.

- Oh my gosh.

Okay.

- There you go.

Hooray!

We have different styles of empanadas.

- What are the more traditional ones?

- So a beef, of course.

You have spices like paprika and cumin and we also add green olives and little pieces or chunks of hard boiled egg.

We also have squash and onion.

Okay, so we're going to start doing some of the prep for the squash filling.

Have you heard of fontina before?

Yeah, it's really nice.

Very nutty.

So many variations depending on the region.

When we go down to the South, you find flavors with the German heritage and smoked flavors and whatnot and like the mustards.

And then you start going more toward western Argentina and you see more of the prevalence of deep fried empanadas and sweet beef-oiled raisins.

There's a saying that we have in Argentina that unless the juice of an empanada does not run all the way down to your elbow, then it's not a good empanada.

- I want that on a T-shirt, by the way.

Why empanadas?

Like why do you use the empanada as the vessel to represent your family, your culture, and your tradition?

- They hold a special place in my heart because that's what I would cook with my grandmother.

I have very fond memories of going to her house.

(Belén and grandmother speaking in Spanish) - We used to have an assembly train.

All the wrappers and then one person would be the filling scooper.

Another person would come in and plug in all the olives and the egg and whatnot.

And then we would close them and go outside of fry them.

- That just reminds me so much of my mother and her galabao.

And you with the empanadas with your grandmother and then building it together, there's just that connection that more than just this handheld food, right?

(slow upbeat music) I am a over filler.

- [Belén] I love it.

The more, the better.

- My mom doesn't like it when we're doing galabaos together 'cause she's like, "I can't close it.

Not too much."

- Hispanic food is very well known in this country.

Argentinian food is perhaps not as known.

Moisten half of the empanada wrapper.

- Okay.

- People tend to think, "Oh, Hispanic, Latin American food is spicy."

And that's not the case with Argentina.

And it could be because of all the groups that immigrated, a lot of Italians, a lot of Spanish folks.

We have Middle Eastern folks.

This is the fun part.

- [Yia] Okay.

- [Belén] You're going to grab each wrapper.

You can give it a nice little... - [Yia] Little tug.

- Tug, yeah.

Bring it in almost at like a little 45-degree angle.

You can change the crimping to identify the different flavors.

I love it.

Good job.

All right, well, shall we move to the squash?

- [Yia] Tell me what it feels like introducing something new to people who've never had maybe empanadas before?

- The fact that I can share the foods that I grew up eating and see people enjoy it is just priceless, right?

And when we're demoing the empanadas in the supermarket, I see their face light up.

That just says it all.

I want to be able to help modernize the grocery store aisle.

- It also doubles as a hand warmer in the winter.

- Exactly.

- I've learned that you just hold them when you guys are doing popups and I'm like, "This is an incredible hand warmer that I can eat."

- You can pull it over if you want.

Sweet.

All right, I know who I'm hiring next to make empanadas in Quebracho.

(upbeat Spanish song plays) - Okay, yeah.

Look at this, freshly baked empanadas.

Four different flavors.

We have corn over here, the beef ones that we assembled, squash, and then all the way in the bottom here, ham and cheese.

- The ham and cheese looks like a stegosaurus.

- The empanadasaurs.

And then we have chimichurri.

So, dig in.

(Spanish song plays) - The dough is so strong, it holds everything in.

It's moist, juicy, you know?

But you can literally just grab it and go.

- Exactly.

So whether it's a meal on the go, these are just so versatile.

- One of the things I just started noticing as we keep talking about this was like how our stories are so aligned but we're literally from different worlds.

And I think that that's so amazing.

And to be able to kind of sit across somebody who kind of has that same spirit and that same understanding, that same comfortability of like, "I just wanna really share a part of my heritage, a part of my family to the people around me."

I mean, to me that's super encouraging.

- Essentially the whole goal is to be able to spark conversations to bring people around the table.

And that's really what makes me happy.

And I'm excited to see that you're enjoying them.

- Yeah.

I mean, if we really think about it, it is something that's hot and we can keep it in our pocket.

You know?

Hot pocket.

(upbeat music) Both the pasty and empanada have rich histories of feeding hardworking people on the go.

Their stories are ones of resilience, adaptability, and resourcefulness.

Classic examples of making the most of what you have.

Today, these handheld foods are as popular as ever.

Still filling bellies with delicious flavors all while reminding us of their humble beginnings.

- I think we can say this is a good empanada.

- Yeah.

- This is how you do it.

(Spanish song plays)