This recipe is straight out of Natchitoches Louisiana. The delicious flaky pastry along with the wonderfully seasoned meat filling makes these pies so addictive you'll be reaching for another, and another...
Take a large skillet on a medium to high heat and add one teaspoon of oil
Cook the ground beef and pork until browned, keep stirring as needed.
Drain the liquid given off from the meat then add the onions, bell pepper, celery and green onions, salt black pepper and cayenne.
Continue to cook until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Now add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
Stir in the flour and allow to cook another 3 minutes, continuously stirring.
Now slowly add the broth and bring it to a simmer.
Continue cooking until the mixture starts to thicken a little.
Remove from the heat and stir in the hot sauce.
Allow the meat pie filling to cool completely before assembling the pies. For best results allow the mixture to cool in the refrigerator overnight. It makes for easier assembly.
Starting on the dough, make sure the flour is sifted.
Add the salt and baking powder.
Cut the shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
In a separate mixing bowl beat the milk and the egg together, then add to the flour mixture.
Work this dough into a ball then flatten into a disc. Place this into plastic wrap and refrigerate for best results. (it can be used immediately though)
When you are ready to start cooking the pies put a pan with vegetable oil on the heat. The oil will need to be 350°F before you drop any pies in.
You'll also need a pan lined with paper towels handy at this point too.
Take the dough and roughly divide into approximately 24 parts. Take one part and roll into a ball. Flour the surface and the rolling pin and roll out the dough until it is nice and thin. Take one to two tablespoon of the meat mixture and place inside this disc.
Fold the one half of the disc over the top of the meat mixture.
Using a pastry brush, brush egg along the inside edge of the disc then crimp the edges closed with a fork, to form a seal.
Working in batches fry the meat pies until they are golden brown on both sides (approximately 3 minutes). Remove from the oil and allow to dry on the paper towel.
Notes
I found maintaining the 350°F temperature difficult, it ended up getting too hot. Using an electric fryer helped with this.Allowing the pie filling and dough to refrigerate was definitely much better.