Savory Beef and Pork Hand Pies

I'm exploring the art of crafting savory hand pies with a rich, meaty filling. These individual pies are perfect for a comforting snack, hearty meal, or a satisfying meal on-the-go. This recipe comes partially from a traditional meat pie recipe that is in my family, combined with several other savory hand pie recipes picking the best of the recipes to combine into one beefy, hearty, hand pie recipe.

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Makes: 13-14 hand pies

Prep time: 1 hour

Total time: 2 hours

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Ingredients:

Boiling water crust:

• 1 lb lard

• 2 cups boiling water

• 1 tsp salt

• 6 - 6 1/2 cups flour

Filling:

• 5 cups small cubed potatoes (about 7)

• 5 cups small cubed rutabagas (about 3)

• 2 cups small cubed carrots (about 3)

• 2 1/2 lbs small diced beef

• 2 lbs small diced pork

• 1 Tbsp salt

• 1 1/2 Tbsp pepper (see note)

• 13-14 Tbsp butter

• 1 egg for egg wash

Instructions:

1. Place lard, water and salt in a bowl and melt lard. Once melted, add flour until it comes together in a soft, slightly tacky dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

2. Prepare filling by finely dicing vegetables and meat. Everything should be in a fine dice to ensure even cooking. Combine all vegetables, meat, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir well to combine everything.

3. Divide the chilled dough into 13-14 sections and roll into balls. Keep everything covered while working on each section.

4. Roll out dough into an 8-10 inch circle, flour as needed. Add 2 scant cups of filling. Either bring both sides up to the center and crimp, or fold over and crimp. A roll over crimp helps seal the edges best.

5. Hand pie can be frozen at this point. Freeze on a lined sheet pan and individually bag for long term storage.

6. To bake from fresh, dock hand pie and brush with egg wash. Place in a 350F oven for 50 - 60 minutes. Internal temperature should be about 200F and the crust golden.

7. To bake from frozen, unwrap hand pie and either dock and egg wash, or partially thaw in the refrigerator then dock and egg wash. Bake as above, might take an extra 10 minutes.

Tips and Notes:

• The pepper level is an adequate level unless you really want pepper, which I did, so at least double this amount.

• Freezes beautifully, bakes from frozen without needing to thaw. Baked very well in a toaster oven.

• Adapted from my family's traditional meat pie (recipe coming soon)