Recipe: Natchitoches Meat Pie

Natchitoches-Style Spicy Meat Pies
by Tom Fitzmorris, for InsideNewOlreans.com

Ingredients:
Filling:
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. flour
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. ground pork (lean)
1 lb. ground round
1 Tbs. salt-free Creole seasoning (best: Bayou Bang)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 ribs celery, chopped
12 sprigs parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Crust:
4 cups self-rising flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. Crisco
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk

2 quarts vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Heat the oil and the flour together in a heavy, large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, to make a medium-brown roux. Add the onions when the color is right, and saute the onions until they begin to brown slightly. Add the bell peppers. Cook for another minute.

2. Add the pork, beef, Creole seasoning, cayenne and salt. Saute, breaking it up as you go, until well browned. Pour off any excess fat that may have been rendered.

3. Lower the heat and add the celery, garlic, parsley, and Worcestershire. Continue to cook for another eight to ten minutes or so, stirring now and then to keep anything from forming clumps.

4. Remove the meat mixture to a big metal pan to cool for a few minutes. Then cover and refrigerate. The pies will be best if the meat can be chilled for several hours or overnight.

5. Crust: In a bowl, blend the salt into the flour, then cut in the Crisco and blend with a whisk till it disappears and makes the flour slightly crumbly.

6. Blend the egg yolks into the milk, and add the milk to the flour. Stir with a kitchen fork till mixed in, then with a rubber spatula to eliminate most of the dry flour. (Add a little more milk only if absolutely necessary.) Stir as little as possible.

7. Dump the dough onto a clean work surface and roll out about 1/4 inch thick. Fold the dough into thirds, to make three layers. Roll out again, this time to the thickness of two stacked quarters. (This will make it pretty wide; you might want to cut it in half.) Cut out circles about six inches in diameter. Handling as little as possible, roll out the leftover dough to cut another batch of circles. Put the dough circles into the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, while you make the filling.

8. When ready to serve, spoon a generous tablespoon or so of the meat mixture onto one half of a dough circle. Moisten the edge of the circle with a little water. Fold the circle over into a half-moon, and press down the edges with a fork to seal.

9. Heat the two quarts of vegetable oil in a heavy, deep kettle to 350 degrees. Fry no more than three pies at a time until golden brown. Let the heat of the oil recover between batches.

Makes 18-24 pies.