Now I have to come clean and say that I haven't actually made these yet, or even had one for that matter. I had a crawfish pie some days ago at a kindof fast-food cajun place, and it was dreadful. But, I liked the idea so decided to go do some research and come up with my own.

What exactly even IS a Natchitoches Meat Pie you ask? Well, Natchitoches is apparently a town in Louisiana. These little dandies are apparently a Christmas Eve tradition down there, and have accumulated quite a following.

I read about it and found the recipe here:

http://www.nolacuisine.com/2006/12/03/natchitoches-meat-pies-recipe

The comments following the recipe made me believe I had stumbled into something unique and tasty, and so, it made its way to my page.

Oh, and PS: Natchitoches is pronounced 'NACK-uh-dish'. I left that little tidbit till the end, so you'd feel as dumb as I did.

Natchitoches Meat Pies Recipe

For the Filling

2 Tbsp Butter
1/2 lb Ground Beef
1/2 lb Ground Pork
1/2 Cup Spanish Onion, finely diced
1/2 Cup Red Bell Pepper, finely diced
1/4 Cup Celery, finely diced
1/2 Cup Green Onions
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 Tbsp Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp Crystal Hot Sauce
Kosher salt, black pepper, and Cayenne to taste.
1/2 Cup Beef Stock
1/8 Cup All Purpose Flour

Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat, when hot add the ground meats, cook until browned and cooked through. Add the onions, celery, bell pepper, and green onions, cook until the vegetables are wilted. Add the garlic, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and seasonings, cook for 2 minutes more. Make a slurry of the stock and flour, add to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

For the Dough:

4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Iodized Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Lard
1 Egg
1 Cup Milk

Combine the dry ingredients in the mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, with the speed on low add the lard to the dry ingredients and let the mixer cut it in until the fat is broken up into pea sized pieces. Beat the egg and combine with the milk. Add the wet to the dry with the mixer on low, in a slow steady stream. Mix until the dough just comes together. The key is to not overwork the dough.
Cut the dough in half then roll it out to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured counter. Cut into either the more traditional 5 inch circles or as I did about 3 circles, I used an empty French Market Coffee can.

To Assemble and Cook:

Place 1 heaping Tablespoon (doubled for the larger size) of the cooled mixture to each circle. With your finger wet the edge with a little water, fold over and crimp with a fork. Set aside on a floured surface until ready to fry.

Heat 4 inches of oil in a dutch oven to 360 degrees. Fry the meat pies in small batches until golden brown on each side.

Notes:

If I know me, I will try and shortcut this recipe to save time. I plan on doing a trial run using puff pasty sheets, and baking them, as opposed to making the dough from scratch and frying them. This should get the time down under an hour. If that goes well, I'll do the real deal again later. And before I get hate-mail, yes, I know that's not the original spirit of the recipe and it will undoubtedly affect the overall experience. But, it will be a good trial run for the filling, and will probably still taste ok.