Directions for shells:
Pastry shell Ingredients:
5 cup sifted flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
½ cup vegetable fat (Crisco)
½ to ¾ cup ice cold water, more if needed
Sift flour & salt together. Cut cold butter into small cubes, then cut it into flour with a pastry blender or 2 knives. Cut Crisco into flour as well. Add cold water to mixture, folding over by hand, until it just sticks together. Roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch thick. Grease baking trays or cover trays with aluminum foil. To make circles of dough for pasties, lay a 5-6" diameter bowl or plate on to dough, and trim around edges with knife. If you want to make "meat coffins", grease a muffin tray and line with dough to make shells. You can leave enough dough rolled out to cover tops after they are filled.

Directions for meat pie filling:
Meat Pie Ingredients:
1 lb. ground pork
½ cup small figs, chopped
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup pinenuts
1 Tbs honey or sugar
½ tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp black or white pepper
½ tsp salt (or more to taste)
¼ cup almond milk
1-2 eggs, beaten
*Add bone marrow & saffron if you're feeling adventuresome!

Brown pork on med high in a fry-pan. Chop figs; mix figs, raisins, pinenuts, and spices in a small bowl. Pour in enough almond milk to soak into the dried fruit, approx 1/2 cup. Add fruit mixture and honey to pork, continue cooking until well-stewed. You may also add an egg at this point to help bind up the mixture.
Put pork filling either into meat "coffins" or into pasties.

Pasties: Put approx 2 Tbs filling in the middle of dough circle. Wet entire ring around edge with water. Fold dough in half over top of filling. Pinch lips together, making a fluted edge with your fingers. Paint with a beaten egg. Bake 15-20 min at 400F.

Coffins: Fill tarts up with meat filling, cover tops with more dough. Paint with a beaten egg. Bake 15-20 min at 400F.

Variation, my veggie pie filling:
1 turnip
2 carrots
1 small onion
1 leek (cut off top of greens)
4 button mushrooms
1/4 cup pinenuts
1 Tbs olive oil or butter
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup fresh Parsley, chopped
1 tsp Pepper
2 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Poultry seasoning (mostly sage)
1 tsp Salt
1 eggs, beaten
Chop vegetables fairly small. Put approx 2 Tbs filling in the middle of pastry dough circle. Wet entire ring around edge with water. Fold dough in half over top of filling. Pinch lips together, making a fluted edge with your fingers. Paint with a beaten egg. Bake 15-20 min at 400F.

Recipe Information Source: Harleian MS. 279 and Harleian MS. 4016, 15th c.; printed in "Take a Thousand Eggs or More", Cindy Renfrow, 1990. Adapted by: Mathilde Hağebyr Category : Misc Contributor : pipermw Print Recipe