Recipes Appetizers Natchitoches Meat Pies with Spicy Buttermilk Dip 3.0 (622) Add your rating & review Natchitoches, Louisiana, is renowned for its meat pies. Kelly English serves his mini version with a dipping sauce that combines two quintessential Southern ingredients: buttermilk and hot sauce. Southern Comfort Foods By Kelly English Kelly English Why he won Because he's as adept at preparing stunning, seasonal dishes as he is at reinventing French-Creole standouts, like Natchitoches meat pies. Born 1978 Raised New Orleans Education The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Experience Restaurant August and Lüke, New Orleans; La Provence, Lacombe, LA. Career turning point "When I told my dad, who's a lawyer, that I wanted to go to culinary school instead of law school, he was surprisingly excited. He took me to August in New Orleans—we had gnocchi in fennel cream with crab and truffles, and from that first bite, I knew. That dish changed my life." How he decided to open Iris "I was in Memphis with my now-wife, Angela, and I heard about a space that was for sale, a local institution called La Tourelle. Inside, there was a stained-glass fleur-de-lys [a New Orleans symbol]. We went outside and there was a rainbow. I said, 'What's next, a unicorn?' " Culinary inheritance "When my grandmother died, my father and his sisters created a cookbook of all her recipes. We're an eating family, I'm telling you." Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 26, 2018 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Anna Williams Active Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins Yield: 12 pies Ingredients Dough 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup ice water Filling 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 pound ground beef chuck 1 large garlic clove, minced 1/2 onion, finely diced 1/4 green bell pepper, finely diced 1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon chopped thyme 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice Salt Hot sauce, preferably Tabasco 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons of milk Buttermilk Dip 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sour cream 1 1/2 teaspoons celery salt 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice Salt Hot sauce, preferably Tabasco 1 scallion, thinly sliced Directions Make the buttermilk dip In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. With the machine on, add the oil and process until the flour is moistened. Sprinkle on the ice water and pulse 5 or 6 times, just until the dough is moistened. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead just until smooth. Form the dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the ground beef and cook over moderately high heat until no pink remains, breaking up the meat with a spoon, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, onion, bell pepper and bay leaf and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, 7 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cayenne, cloves, thyme, coriander and allspice and cook over moderately low heat for 3 minutes. Season with salt and hot sauce and let cool. Discard the bay leaf. Transfer the filling to a food processor and pulse until chopped. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured work surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 12-inch round. Using a 4-inch biscuit cutter, stamp out 6 rounds from each piece of dough. Brush the edges of the rounds with some of the egg wash and place a rounded tablespoon of filling to one side of each circle. Fold the other half of the dough over the filling and press to seal. Crimp the edges with a fork. Transfer the pies to the baking sheet and brush with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, buttermilk, sour cream, celery salt and lemon juice. Season with salt and hot sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the scallion. Serve the pies with the buttermilk dip. Suggested Pairing Natchitoches, located southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana, isn't exactly a wine destination, but these flavorful pies go great with a juicy red like a Sangiovese from the Texas Hill Country near Austin, a few hundred miles west. Rate it Print