Giant Blueberry Pie

Take one of the flats of blueberries and mash with a potato masher until you have a nice even pulp. Put in a stockpot and simmer over very low heat to reduce, until it achieves the consistency of tomato paste (up to 24 hours). Remove from the heat and set in a bowl in the refigerator to cool. In a large bowl, mix the salt with the flour. Next, use 2 knives to cut in the lard and butter, putting both in at the same time, and mix only long enough to get a very coarse, ragged mass without any really big fat lumps. Add the water incrementally, mixing lightly with a fork, mixing only long enough to eliminate obviously soggy spots, adding enough total water that the dough holds, but no more, when pressed into a ball. When you are done you will have a rather uneven, crumbly dough with lots of variation in moistness, fattiness, etc. Divide the dough into 2 equal balls. Roll out the first one as gently as possible to just over the size of your pie dish and drape over the dish, gently lowering it into place. Set the dish in the refrigerator. Before rolling out the top crust, finish the filling. This is also a good time to begin preheating the oven (to 425 F). Take out the bowl with the blueberry paste, and slowly fold in the other flat of blueberries with a spatula. Try to get the mixture even without crushing the berries. At this point, roll out the top crust, pull the pie dish out of the refrigerator, spoon the filling into the dish, and cover with the top crust. Crimp the crust firmly together (especially with the big pie) and poke vents in the top with a fork. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350 F and bake for 2 hours more. It's best to open the oven door at the end of the 425 temperature period until the oven drops to 350. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. The pie will actually improve if you let it cool before serving, then reheat in the oven if you want it warm. Reheat slices at 250-300F for about 15 minutes or so for a generous slice. I don't recommend reheating in the microwave because it tends to make the crust soggy and tough while drying out the filling, even if you watch the timing. This recipe is for a 14" deep-dish pizza pan. To convert to a normal 9" pie, scale everything down by a factor of 4 (1/4 the recipe). This includes baking times.