It is February in Minnesota. And it’s a cold one! Nothing better than some solid comfort food to warm you up, or to feed you on a frigid small game hunt in the late season. The freezer is filled with random memories from the last 5 month and 3 vacuum sealed bags make their way into the kitchen with me. The plan is to make 3 different kinds of meat pies. My favorite kind of pie.

Mentioning Pie in this neck of the woods, will get folks thinking of all kinds of sweet treats with Apple Pie being on top of the list. After all, apple pie is as American as Blue Jeans, 4th of July and shooting woodcock with a Fox Sterlingworth. But these pies won’t be of the sweet kind.

Pies are thought to be originated in Ancient Greece and started as a meaty dish. Later on they became a favorite in the Medieval times in England and contained mainly foul and upland game birds. One of the pies will be an homage to traditional English game pies, just much smaller. Not that impressive centerpiece of a raised game pie but more of an individual hand pie. I’ll be using a South Dakota ring neck for this baked deliciousness.

The second pie will be inspired by my travels to Australia where I stuffed my face many times with gravy and minced meat filled pies at a rugby game or on “smoko” (short work break). Compared to the others, the filling in this pie will be cooked ahead of time, and the lid is usually made of puff pastry. Wisconsin Fox Squirrel will be the meat of choice for this dish.

The last pie is inspired by one of my favorite dishes, Chile Verde. It is full of flavor and has a decent amount of spice. Perfect to wrap up in a towel, and take with you on a long hunting day to give you some heat on a midday meal. The protein for this pie was shot in September in North Dakota on my first Sharptail hunting trip.

A word on hot water crust:

We will be using very traditional meat pie crust in all three of these recipes. It comes together super easy but can be a little tricky to handle if you let it get too cold. So work swiftly. Hot Water Crust is traditionally made with lard and that is what I use mainly. But you can use any rendered fat like duck or pheasant. If you don’t have either of that you can always substitute with butter or ghee.

Hot Water Pastry:

Dough for 4 individual pies

Ingredients:

• 675 g (24oz) of all-purpose flour

• 75 ml (1/3 cup) of milk

• 225g or lard, duck fat or butter

• 3/4 tsp salt

Method:

• Heat up milk with lard in a small sauce pan till fat is completely melted

• In a bowl mix together flour and salt.

• Add milk fat mixture and stir with wooden spoon (very hot in the beginning) till dough comes together.

• Move dough onto lightly flour surface and kneed till smooth.

• Take off 1/3 of dough and preserve for lid.

• Split the rest of the dough into 4 equal parts.

• Shape each piece of dough into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle (about 1/4 inch thick) that is about 2 inches bigger in diameter than your pie dish (I use small 5-inch ceramic dishes)

• Line the pie dish with the dough. You can squeeze it up the sides and over the rim of the dish with your thumbs.

Pheasant Game Pie:

4 individual pies

Ingredients:

• 4 pheasant breasts cubed

• 2 shallots minced

• 2 cloves of garlic minced

• 2 tsp cumin

• 1/4 cup of port wine, Madeira or red wine

• 1/8 tsp ground cloves

• 1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

• 1 egg yolk mixed with about 1 fl oz of milk for egg wash

• fresh ground pepper

Method:

• Cut pheasant breast into small cubes.

• Mix all ingredients but the egg wash together in a bowl and let marinade till dough is done.

• I always fry up a tiny bit of my pie fillings and taste them to see if I got the spices right. This would be the time to do that.

• Take off 1/3 of dough and preserve for the lids.

• Split the rest of the dough into 4 equal parts.

• Shape each piece of dough into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle (about 1/4 inch thick) that is about 2 inches bigger in diameter than your pie dish (I use small 5-inch ceramic dishes)

• Line the greased pie dish with the dough. You can squeeze it up the sides and over the rim of the dish with your thumbs.

• Fill the pie with pheasant mixture.

• Roll out lids.

• Brush egg wash on rim of pie and put lid on top. Cut around the pie dish with a sharp knife to take off excess dough and seal the lid to the crust by squeezing it with a fork.

• You can use any leftover dough to make small decorations either by hand or with cookie cutter. “Glue” them to the top of the pie with the egg wash.

• Bruh the top with egg wash and put into oven for about 30 minutes.

• If you use ceramic dishes like I do, take the pies out of the oven and let them cool just slightly. Take the pies out of the dish and put them on a backing sheet or the rack back in the oven for 10 minutes to firm up the crust.

• Pie can be eaten warm or cold. I prefer cold with some mustard and pickles.

Aussie Squirrel Pie:

Ingredients:

• Oil, Lard, Fat or whatever you prefer for pan frying

• 1 red onion

• 4 squirrels (deboned and minced)

• 2 strips of bacon

• 1 cup of venison or beef stock

• 1 tbs corn starch

• 1 6oz can of tomato paste

• 2 tbs of Worcestershire sauce

• 2 tbs of BBQ sauce

• 2 sheets of puff pastry

• 1 egg yolk mixed with about 1 fl oz of milk for egg wash

Method:

• Heat fat in a sauce pan over medium heat and cook onions till soft.

• In the meantime mince squirrel meat and bacon in a food processor.

• Add minced meat mixture to pan and cook till it is nicely browned.

• Stir in tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes.

• Mix corn starch with 1 tbs of stock and deglaze pan with remaining stock.

• Add Worcestershire sauce and BBQ sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

• Let it cool.

• Split the rest of the dough into 4 equal parts.

• Shape each piece of dough into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle (about 1/4 inch thick) that is about 2 inches bigger in diameter than your pie dish (I use small 5-inch ceramic dishes)

• Line the greased pie dish with the dough. You can squeeze it up the sides and over the rim of the dish with your thumbs.

• Fill the pie with pheasant mixture.

• Cut out the lids from thawed puff pastry sheet.

• Brush egg wash on rim of pie and put lid on top. Cut around the pie dish with a sharp knife to take off excess dough and seal the lid to the crust by squeezing it with a fork.

• Bruh the top with egg wash and put into oven for about 20 minutes.

• If you use ceramic dishes like I do, take the pies out of the oven and let them cool just slightly. Take the pies out of the dish and put them on a backing sheet or the rack back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to firm up the crust.

• Take out and let them cool down just a bit before eating.

• Enjoy!

Spicy Chili Sharpie Pie:

Ingredients:

• Oil, Lard, Fat or whatever you prefer for pan frying

• 4 sharp-tailed grouse breasts cubed

• 1 slice of bacon

• 2 cans of mild green chilis

• 1-2 jalapeños finely chopped (depending on your spice level)

• 1 lime juiced

• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro finely chopped

• 1 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp of ground cloves

• 1 egg yolk mixed with about 1 fl oz of milk for egg wash

Method:

• Mince sharptail cubes and bacon in a food processor. (I like it more on the minced side than all the way ground)

• In a bowl mix together all ingredients but the egg wash.

• I always fry up a tiny bit of my pie fillings and taste them to see if I got the spices right. This would be the time to do that.

  Take off 1/3 of dough and preserve for the lids.

• Split the rest of the dough into 4 equal parts.

• Shape each piece of dough into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle (about 1/4 inch thick) that is about 2 inches bigger in diameter than your pie dish (I use small 5-inch ceramic dishes)

• Line the greased pie dish with the dough. You can squeeze it up the sides and over the rim of the dish with your thumbs.

• Fill the pie with pheasant mixture.

• Roll out lids.

• Brush egg wash on rim of pie and put lid on top. Cut around the pie dish with a sharp knife to take off excess dough and seal the lid to the crust by squeezing it with a fork.

• You can use any leftover dough to make small decorations either by hand or with cookie cutter. “Glue” them to the top of the pie with the egg wash.

• Bruh the top with egg wash and put into oven for about 30 minutes.

• If you use ceramic dishes like I do, take the pies out of the oven and let them cool just slightly. Take the pies out of the dish and put them on a backing sheet or the rack back in the oven for 10 minutes to firm up the crust.

• Take out and let cool a little before eating.

• Enjoy!