Natchitoches Meat Pies (Hot-ta-meat)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

NATCHITOCHES MEAT PIES

   Does DARE have anything on this?  I didn't see it under "Natchitoches."
   Anyone?
   I realize the OED is on "M," but "N" comes up pretty quick.  Also, "meat pies."
   From the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, 18 July 1965, pg. 32:

_Turnover Treats_
By Craig Claiborne
   In Chinese cookery, there is fried won ton; in Cornwall, there are pasties.  The French feast on rissoles; the Latins like empanadas.  And in this country, we have turnovers.
   Two versions of deep-fried meal pastry are given here.  One is based on the Chilean empanada.  The other comes from the Louisiana town of Natchitoches, where peppery turnovers called "hot-ta-meat" pies are a specialty.
   The secret of a properly crisp yet flaky pastry covering for meat pies is to roll out the pastry almost as thin as possible.  Both these turnovers are best served hot, but they also are very good cold.

   From www.insideneworleans.com/restaurants/food/recipes/meat_pies.html:

   The Natchitoches meat pie is almost identical to the Spanish and Latin American empanada.  It's a pie crust dough that's folded over a filling of ground meat mixed with savory herbs and pepper, sealed, and deep-fried.  They can also be baked, but those lack something.
   Although people in Natchitoches have been making meat pies for as long as anyone can remember, it's only since Lasyone's opened in 1968 that it's been a restaurant item.  Lasyone's is to Natchitoches what Galatoire's is to New Orleans.  All the other meat pies in town are compared with theirs.

   From BATON ROUGE STATE TIMES, 13 August 1978 (Dow Jones):

_Natchitoches meat pies: history unrecorded_
(...)
   "The story goes that there were little boys who would go up and down Front Street with little carts selling meat pies.  And they would holler, 'hotta meat pies!'" says Betty Jones, executive director of the Natchitoches Parish Tourist Commission and executive vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce in Natchitoches.
   Although the true origin of the Natchitoches pie seems to have vanished with time, Jones says her earliest memories of eating the delicacy stems from her childhood.
   She can remember munching on the spicy fried pies made by one of the older town matrons, Desiree "Miss Dede" Breazeale.
   Jones says Miss Ded came from one of the first pioneer families in Natchitoches and as far back as she remembers, Miss Dede always served the pies.
(...)
   McCain (president of Natchitoches Louisiana Meat Pie Company--ed.) says many different stories surround the origin of the meat pie.  "It's really hard to tell where it originally came from," he says.
   And although tales are told that the tasty turnover originated on the old plantation homes or that the first settlers brought it over from England, McClain claims that Natchitoches has always been known as home of the meat pie. (...)

   Maybe I'll start by checking, as usual, the telephone books of the 1930s and 1940s.

--------------------------------------------------------
BEEF WELLINGTON (continued)

   I went throught THE VILLAGER (1965-1966) here at NYU.  I just read that John Lindsay was elected mayor.

7 October 1965, VILLAGER, pg. 13, col. 1 ad:
LONDON BRIDGE STEAK HOUSE
Broiled Blue Ribbon Prime Club Steak $5.00
Broiled Slice Sirloin Steak $4.25
English Fish 'N Chips $3.75
Southern Fried Chicken, Candied Yams & Corn Fritter $3.75

25 November 1965, VILLAGER, pg. 12, col. 1 ad:
THE ENGLISH PUB
Shepherds Pie 1.95
Old Fashioned Beef Stew 1.95
Steak and Kidney Pie 2.95
London Broil 2.75
the Pub's Chopped Sirloin Steak 2.50
Fish & Chips 1.75
and Roast Duckling 3.75

   No "Beef Wellington" at these or other steakhouses.

(My last posting had some lines repeated, but it looks OK in the original.  If anything doesn't make sense, it's computer error--ed.)