There is an art to a proper meat pie, according to the Seattle chef and butcher Kevin Smith. The American pot pie frustrates him because it lets the pot do the heavy lifting. "The real way of doing it, for me, is to make a freestanding pie," Smith says. The pastry should hold itself up, a technique cooks in England have honed over centuries. "That is so much more theatrical."
I spent a year living in New Zealand, and came back to Atlanta looking for the familiar and comforting tastes from the Southern Hemisphere - especially for the easy, local delicacy of meat pies. I found them at Heaps. It's a rare slice of New Zealand in Decatur, where Wellington native Jake Harvey and partner Ana turn local ingredients into golden, crimped pastries.