Food of Evandar: Meat Pies

In my world, I see people having a wide range of foods. Each culture has their own specialties and there are delicacies that can be exotic or disgusting to our palate. I get my ideas for the cusine of this world from the wide variety of foods that can be found in our world. Some of them are drawn from historical recipes and some come from the recipes that I adapt. A few of them are also based in ones that I have made myself. I try to note what makes the difference between the fantasy world's recipes and the food from our world.

On a weekly basis, I will be posting a recipe that would match something from my fantasy world. These recipes may include links to other related recipes that can be found on the internet.

Meat pies are hand held pocket pies filled with a savory meat mixture. Different regions of Evandar have different varieties within them. The recipe that I am presenting today would be typical of what you would find in Dakon-Bar. (Dragonwood Forest is part of this region.) The abundance of deer is what gives this meat pie its filling. In Evandar, the meat would be minced very fine before cooking. Obviously, we can have ours ground. It makes for less labor.

If you want an 'accurate' version and you decide to mince your venison prior to cooking, consider using two chef knives held together for mincing the meat. It is a little tricky to handle but it doubles your cutting surfaces and allows you to get it done in about half the time you would be doing with a single knife. Another option is to toss your venison into a food processor. Process it until the pieces are less than 1/4 inch in size. Take care not to over process it and make a paste out of your meat.

Brown 1/4 pound of minced venison in a heavy skillet with 2 tbsp of oil, 1/4 cup of diced sweet onion, and 2 ribs of celery, chopped fine. In a separate pan, boil 2 sweet potatoes, skinned and diced, until they can be pierced with a tooth pick. Drain the water off of the sweet potatoes except for a 1/4 cup.  Mash the sweet potatoes with garlic, butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of milk. You should get a dough that is somewhat sticky but still easy to handle. Alternatively, you can prepare 2 cups of biscuit mix as per directions. Roll out your dough and with a large glass or a biscuit cutter, cut out 2 dozen rounds.

Mix the venison mixture with the sweet potatoes. Spoon a generous amount into the center of a dozen biscuit rounds. Place another biscuit round on top and press the edges together with a fork. Prick the center of the top biscuit round three times with a fork.

Carefully place your biscuit rounds on a greased cookie sheet. (You can line the cookie sheet with baking parchment instead of greasing the cookie sheet.) Bake at 350^o until biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm with broth.

If you are looking for more Earthly fare, try this British Meat Pies recipe which inspired this one. Another variation that can be used in rounds of bread dough crimped together with a slit in the top to let the steam out. Bake this version at 350^o until golden brown.

All temperatures given are in Fahrenheit.