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Authentic Tourtière Recipe Alternate Text Quebec, Canada

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We strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though

Introduction & history

Tourtière is a spiced meat pie made with shortcrust pastry and a generously seasoned stuffing consisting of ground or cubed meat, onions, and potatoes. Each region has its own different version of the dish, each with its own special intricacies. Nevertheless, some basic steps must be followed when preparing any version of the dish. The dough for the pie is shortcrust pastry — lard is often recommended as shortening, resulting in an especially delicious and flaky pastry. The type of meat varies from pork and veal to wild game or even fish. Whether ground or cubed, the meat is sometimes pre-cooked before being baked in the pie, and the stuffing can be thickened with the addition of oatmeal or breadcrumbs. Once the stuffing has been prepared, it is wrapped in dough and baked in a casserole dish. The exception to this rule is the Acadian version of the pie, which is baked in small, individual pie pans.

Cooking tips

  • pastry

    Even though the favorite of many bakers nowadays is butter, substitute it with lard to get the most delicious pastry that is perfectly light and flaky.
  • meat

    A common piece of advice passed around is to use two types of meat for the stuffing, but as stated previously, the type of meat used can be adjusted to personal liking and availability.
  • ingredients

    The potatoes have the role of soaking up the liquid when the pie is being baked, but if need be, to help absorb the extra liquid, add oatmeal or breadcrumbs. It’s important to remember that the stuffing should be dry because if there is too much liquid left, it will make the crust soggy.
  • seasoning

    Since this is a spiced meat pie, don’t be afraid to season it. Most commonly used spices include clove, savory, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
  • assembling

    Given that this pie is most often eaten for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it’s fitting to decorate the top of the pie with a festive design and then coat everything with an egg wash to get the perfect color obtained with baking. For extra crunchiness when eating, sprinkle the top with coarse salt.
  • serving

    A hearty and satiating meal in itself, for serving, pair the pie with something sweet or sour like tomato chutney, pickled beets, cranberry sauce, or just a simple green salad.

Recipe variations

Tourtière

PREP 30min

COOK 2h

RESTING 2h

READY IN 4h 30min

4.8

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The classic tourtière, as presented in this recipe, is made with a filling of ground beef, pork, and a dash of spices. The meat is first browned, and after it’s been drained from fat and combined with the other ingredients, added to a pie shell. The assembled pie is then baked for an hour. The pastry can be store-bought, but if you want to make one from scratch, use lard to produce that perfectly flaky dough. The recipe is adapted from The Canadian Encyclopedia website, the go-to place for accurate and up-to-date information on all things Canada-related.

Ingredients

10 Servings

1 kg (2.2 lbs) lean ground beef

500g (1.1 lbs) lean ground pork

2 onions, chopped

175 ml (3/4 cups) water

¾ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp ground savory

salt and freshly ground pepper

pastry for two 23 cm (9-inch) double-crust pies

Preparation

Step 1/6

Combine pork and beef in a large saucepan, stir them to blend and help break up the lumps of meat while cooking on medium-high heat for seven to nine minutes, or until no longer pink.

Step 2/6

When done, place in a sieve to drain the fat off, return the meat to the saucepan and add the following: onions, water, allspice, savory, salt, and pepper.

Step 3/6

Now, reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and let simmer while occasionally stirring for 1-1.5 hours. If the mixture gets dry while cooking, add some water. When cooked, let cool and refrigerate.

Step 4/6

Divide the pastry into four parts and roll out two rounds of pastry on a lightly floured board. Place the two rolled-out pastry rounds on the bottom of two 23 cm (9-inch) pie plates, spread the filling, and cover with the remains of the rolled-out dough.

Step 5/6

Seal the dough by trimming and crimping the edges. Also, make incisions on top of the pastry to allow the steam to get out.

Step 6/6

Preheat the oven to 220°C/430°F, place the pies in and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180°C/350°F and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until golden.

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