Tourtière is a French-Canadian meat pie from Québéc that can be traced back to the 1600s when Québécios settlers attended midnight mass on Christmas Eve. There is no one correct filling. In coastal regions, fish is common while inland regions may use minced pork, veal, rabbit, game, or beef.
Thank you to a family friend’s grandmother from Canada for providing her favorite (or should we say, favourite) recipe, Babbi’s Tourtière.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ lb ground veal
- 1 cup water
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled, whole
- 2 medium-sized potatoes
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. thyme
- ½ tsp. savory
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- pre-made pie dough
Instructions
- In a heavy fry pan, mix the pork, veal, water, and garlic. Simmer (uncovered) for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into quarters. Boil a large pot of lightly salted water and add the potatoes. Boil for 15 minutes.
- After the first 30 minutes of simmering the meat mixture, remove garlic. Add onions, salt, pepper, thyme, savory, and cinnamon. Continue to simmer (uncovered) for 30 more minutes.
- In the meanwhile, when potatoes are done, drain & mash them.
- After the second 30 minutes of simmering the meat mixture, remove the fry pan from the heat. Blend in the mashed potatoes and let cool.
- Fill a dough-lined 9” pie plate with the cooled meat mixture (I don’t like to make the meat part too thick). There will likely be some leftover meat. Cover with pie dough. Slit crust.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for about 45 minutes (until the crust looks golden brown).
- Serve with Chili sauce.
Recipe Notes
For a heavy fry pan, cast iron usually works best. When mashing your potatoes, do NOT add milk, butter, etc.
This version of Tourtière calls for pre-made pie dough to cover only the top of the pie. If you wish you use a pre-made pie shell or make the dough or pie crust yourself, you can adjust the recipe accordingly and make your own personalized version of Tourtière.
THE WORLD ON ONE CAMPUS 