When I was growing up it was a Christmas Tradition each year for my mother to make Tourtiere. My father is French Canadian and the Tourtiere was a tradition in his family. Tourtiere is a type of a meat pie which is served in French Canada during the Christmas Holidays, normally on Christmas Eve during their Reveillon celebrations, which last pretty much all night. My father is from the Saugenay Lac St Jean region of Quebec.
My mother was English however and staying up all night was not an option in our home. Neither was meat pie on Christmas Day, and so we always had it on Boxing Day. Truth be known it was a very important part of our Christmas holiday celebrations no matter when we ate it and it was something all of us looked forward to each year.
I do believe that there are as many recipes for Tourtiere as there are families that eat it. Some opt to use finely chopped meat . . . pork, or veal . . . and others use ground meat, sometimes just pork, and often a combination of pork and beef. My mother always used just beef. I like to use pork and beef. My ex sister in law always used chopped pork shoulder. (She was Acadian French.)
Some use dried bread crumbs to absorbe some of the moisture from their filling. Some use grated raw potato cooked in with the meat. Some grate cooked potato into the filling . . . I like to use dried potato flakes because you don't get any lumps of potato, but it thickens the filling nicely.
All will have finely chopped onions and ground cloves. Garlic, savory, thyme, etc. . . . these are optional. I do use them, but my mother only used the savory along with the onion and cloves. I also add a few chopped celery leaves and some parsley. It changes each year. I keep fiddling with it a bit here and a bit there in my quest for the perfect Tourtiere. I think my sister always makes the best ones, but alas . . . she is 2,000 miles away, so mine will just have to do. The Toddster isn't complaining!
*Tourtiere 2013*makes two nine inch pies
Printable Recipe
I have been working at finding the perfect tourtiere my whole life. Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie which is generally served at Christmas. I grew up with them. My sister makes the best ones ever. This one comes close.
For the pastry: (make this recipe twice, don't double)200g plain flour (2 cups)3/4 tsp table salt75g of butter (1/3 cup)73g of lard (1/3 cup)5 to 6 TBS of ice waterone egg yolk beaten with a bit of water to glaze
For the filling:1 pound extra lean ground pork1 pound extra lean ground steak2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and finely choppedsalt and black pepper to tastefinely chopped parsley and celery leaves to taste1 tsp savory1/2 tsp ground cloves1 cup boiling water or chicken stock3 TBS instant potato flakes
First make the filling. Place the meats in a large pot along with the onions, garlic, parsley, celery, savory, cloves and some seasoning. Mix with your hands. Add the boiling water/stock. (It should be just barely covered) Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through and is no longer pink. Simmer for about half an hour. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Stir in the potato flakes. Set aside to cool.
Make the pastry. (You will need to do the pastry recipe twice for the best results.) Sift the flour into a bowl and whisk in the salt. Cut the fats into bits and drop in. Cut them in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs with a pastry blender. Add the ice water a bit at a time, using a fork to blend until you have a pastry that comes together. Just use as much water as you need to do this. You may need more or less, depending on the weather. Shape the pastry into two round flat discs, wrap in cling film and chill for half an hour. Repeat.
Roll two of the pastry discs into a round large enough to fit into each of two nine-inch pie tins with an overhang. Divide the cooled filling between each crust. Roll out the two remaining discs to cover the tops with an overhang. Wet the edges of the bottom crust and place the top crusts over each. Seal and trim. Cut out a steam vent in the center of each pie. Roll out the scraps if desired and use to decorate the tops. Brush with the beaten egg yolk to glaze.
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Place the two pies on a large baking try and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and crisp on the bottom.
I did a little one for Todd so you could see how flakey that pastry is and what the filling looks like. He really enjoys this each year, and of course he doesn't have to watch his waistline!
(My sister's pies this year! Yes we both like to take photos of what we cook and eat! It must run in the family!)
Note: If you only want to make one pie, just cut all the ingredients for the filling in half. Or make the full batch and freeze half of it for another time. You can also bake this in individual pies. My sister does and uses canning jar lids for the pans. Works perfectly!
