My spouse is a movie buff. After we journey, she likes to go to areas the place films had been filmed. We as soon as camped at Dames Ferry State Park in Juliette, Georgia, so she might see the Whistle Cease Café, the location of Fried Inexperienced Tomatoes. Whereas visiting her sister-in-law in Woodstock, we danced to the Pennsylvania Polka within the picturesque metropolis sq. the place Groundhog Day was filmed. We took a ship from Savannah, Georgia, to Daufuskie Island to have Sallie Ann Robinson, a cookbook author and a former scholar of creator Pat Conroy, deliver us to the schoolhouse featured within the film Conrack. On our final journey to New York, we had lunch on the Central Park Boathouse, simply as Meg Ryan and Carrie Fisher did in When Harry Met Sally. And naturally, we needed to go to Katz’s Delicatessen, the place her good upbringing fortunately stored her from being tempted to behave out Meg Ryan’s function within the iconic “I am going to have what she’s having!” scene.
Our newest cinematic journey took us to the north-central Louisiana city of Natchitoches, the place Metal Magnolias was filmed. She cherished visiting all of the filming areas and taking part within the metropolis’s six-week “Competition of Lights,” the place Dolly Parton served fried shrimp to Julia Roberts. I am much less of a movie buff, however we each love exploring the native foodways, most notably the enduring Natchitoches meat pie.
Natchitoches (pronounced NACK-a-tish) is Louisiana’s oldest everlasting European settlement within the space acquired by the Louisiana Buy. It was established in 1714 as a French buying and selling outpost on the Pink River. Shortly after the French settled in Natchitoches, the Spanish established an outpost close by at Los Adaes. The culinary tradition of Natchitoches is an amalgam of a number of cultures: French, Creole, Spanish and Native American.
The Natchitoches meat pie is a savory hand pie that has existed because the late 1700s. It consists of a wheat-based hand pie crust crammed with floor beef and pork and Louisiana’s culinary “trinity”: onion, bell pepper and celery. The pies had been historically fried in peanut oil however can be baked on a sheet tray. Natchitoches meat pies are just like Spanish picadillo beef empanadas, which had been launched to the area by the Spanish troopers stationed on the Los Adaes outpost.
Utilizing wheat flour as an alternative of corn flour was important as a result of corn was the native crop and a staple of Spanish and Native American meals. Wheat, nevertheless, is tough to develop within the moist, heat local weather of the South, and was probably imported from Europe by way of the French buying and selling put up at Natchitoches. Within the late 1800s, these meat pies had been served on the plantations that lined the Cane River and offered at Natchitoches avenue corners, making them one in every of Louisiana’s first avenue meals.
Fashionable-day Natchitoches (inhabitants 17,000) was named the 2023 Greatest Small City in Louisiana by Southern Dwelling Journal and has one in every of “The 30 Most Stunning Most important Streets Throughout America” based on Architectural Digest. Each fall Natchitoches hosts a Meat Pie Competition on its scenic riverfront, which incorporates a meat pie baking contest, a meat pie consuming contest, zydeco bands and fireworks.
Natchitoches meat pie
Tailored from the “Official Meat Pie Recipe” of the Natchitoches Meat Pie Competition.
Makes 6-8 pies
It is best to organize the elements for this recipe a day forward. The filling and pie dough have to be well-chilled earlier than assembling. A small empty espresso can was historically used to chop the dough into circles.
Elements:
Meat pie filling
1 teaspoon bacon fats
1 lb. floor beef
1 lb. floor pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon cayenne
Salt and black pepper to style
1 tablespoon AP flour
Meat pie crust:
8 cups AP flour, plus extra for dusting
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, frozen
4 eggs, chilly
1 3/4 cup milk, chilly
Canola or different impartial, high-heat oil for frying.
Preparation:
For the meat pie filling: In a heavy skillet over medium warmth, soften the bacon fats, add the meat and pork and prepare dinner till the pink is gone.
Add greens, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne. Season to style with salt and pepper. Cook dinner for quarter-hour. Take away from the warmth and drain extra liquid.
Stir in 1 tablespoon flour to thicken the combination.
Refrigerate in a single day.
For the meat pie crust: In a big bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder.
In a small bowl, mix the chilly eggs and milk. Beat gently with a fork to mix.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour combination by the massive holes of a field grater. Gently toss the butter with the flour.
Progressively add the egg/milk combination till the dough has the right consistency to roll. Kind right into a ball; cowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate in a single day.
To assemble: Sprinkle some flour onto a clear floor; place the dough on the counter and roll it out to about – to ¼-inch thick. Lower out 6-inch dough circles.
Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the filling barely off-center on every dough circle. Moisten the perimeter with a little bit water and fold one aspect of the dough circle over to encase the filling. Press to seal, and crimp with a fork.
To fry: Fill a Dutch oven with 2 inches of cooking oil. Warmth over medium-high till the oil reaches 370 levels. Fry the pies in batches till golden brown, about 2 minutes per aspect. Drain on paper towels and serve sizzling.
To bake: Preheat oven to 400 levels. Calmly oil a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make an egg wash by calmly beating an egg with a teaspoon of water and brush over the pies. Bake for 25-Half-hour till golden brown.
Additional meat pies could be frozen both earlier than or after cooking. For raw pies, permit pies to return to room temperature earlier than frying or baking. If baking, bear in mind to brush with an egg wash. To reheat cooked pies, deliver to room temperature, place on a sheet tray, and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15-25 minutes, or till the middle is heat.
