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1
Make the pastry. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Rub in the cold lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the white wine gradually and work to a smooth, pliable dough — do not overwork. Shape into a disc, wrap, and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it no longer springs back under a finger.
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2
Prepare the filling. Place the minced beef in a dry pan over medium heat and cook for exactly 5 minutes, stirring — the goal is to drive off the raw moisture without browning. The meat should remain pale and just cooked through. Remove from the heat immediately and spread on a plate to cool completely.
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3
This is where the dish lives or dies. Once the meat is fully cold, combine it in a bowl with the broken Modica chocolate, sugar, ground almonds, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly. The chocolate must remain granular and unmelted; the filling should smell of warm spice and cacao with no dominant savouriness. The proportion must favour chocolate: if the meat mass threatens to equal the chocolate, the character of the dish is lost. The filled mixture may rest, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days — spice integration improves with time.
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4
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Roll the rested dough on a lightly floured surface to approximately 2–3 mm thickness. Cut rounds of about 10 cm diameter. Place a generous spoonful of filling on one half of each round, leaving a clear border. Fold the dough over to form a half-moon. Press the edges firmly with the tines of a fork or the heel of the hand to seal completely — the filling expands during baking and any gap will cause it to leak. The sealed edge must be tight to the touch with no air pockets.
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5
Arrange the pastries on a parchment-lined baking tray with space between them. Bake at 180 °C for 20 minutes. The pastry is done when it is pale golden — not deep brown. Lard-based pastry colours quickly beyond this point; watch from 17 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack.
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6
Dust generously with icing sugar while the pastries are still just warm. The sugar settles into the surface and adheres. The pastries are correct at room temperature on the day of baking; they improve on the second day as the pastry softens slightly and the filling melds further into the chocolate.