PIGEON PIE WITH WILD GAME INSPIRED BY GAME OF THRONES

In a medium bowl, combine half of the squab breasts with onion, rosemary, thyme, soaked cherries, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Set aside, and repeat with wild boar: onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. With the remaining squab breasts, combine the apple, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Finally, with the rabbit, combine mushrooms, thyme, and rosemary. Keep all meats separate.

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Whisk together flours and salt in a large bowl.  Bring lard and water to a bare simmer and add to the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.  Once it’s cool enough to handle, knead until it forms a smooth, tacky dough.  Roll out 2/3 of the dough to a 24-inch round, covering the remainder with a warm/damp towel, and drape over a liberally-greased and floured springform mold.  Gently coax the dough down into the mold and press into the corners, patching as necessary to seal it.  Begin filling the pastry - first with the cherry squab, a layer of bacon strips, then the wild boar, another layer of bacon, the apple squab, another layer of bacon, and the rabbit.  Make sure the meat is pressed deeply into every corner, and roll out a knob of dough until it’s the size of a lid for the pastry.  Cover and pinch the edges, sealing like a pie. Brush a little of the beaten egg over the top. Cut a steam hole in the center of the lid, and decorate as desired with remaining pastry.

Bake pie for 30 minutes at 400°F, then lower the temperature to 325°F, baking for an additional 90 minutes, or until pastry is browned and filling reaches 165°F internally.  Trim the crust as necessary so the springform can eventually release - allow to cool for at least 2 hours before attempting to remove, ideally refrigerating overnight.  Slice and serve with grain mustard.