Natchitoches meat pie empanada. Varieties are found throughout the colonies of the Spanish Empire. The Natchitoches meat pie is nearly identical to the traditional ground beef empanada of Argentina, Empanada de Carne. The meat pie is found all throughout Louisiana, including southern Louisiana which tends to have a spicier version compared to its northern counterpart, but its origins are found to be from Northern Louisiana. Although found in Greater New Orleans today, "The Picayune's Creole Cook Book" published in 1901 by "The Times Picayune" of New Orleans does not contain a recipe for a Natchitoches style meat pie in its list of over
Pie bird tools. The nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" makes reference to "Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie..." but it is uncertain whether pie vents were designed to look like birds because of this song. Pie bird A pie bird, pie vent, pie whistle, pie funnel, or pie chimney is a hollow ceramic device, originating in Europe, shaped like a funnel, chimney, or upstretched bird with open beak used for supporting or venting a pie. Funnel-style steam vents have been placed in the center of fruit and meat pies during cooking since Victorian times; bird shapes came later.