Mains · By James
Tourtière
This amazing Quebec habitant meat pie is a more recent addition to the family cookbook. In December 2018, an old friend of Jakob and Ulrike's from Montreal was visiting, and came with them to our New Year's party. I was interested in Quebec cuisine, and in particular tourtière, since we made it in my Foods classes. Mary Ann handwrote from memory her family's traditional Quebecois recipe. The recipe here is based on this, adding in a couple of other traditional elements, like the fresh apple juice and maple syrup. This classic holiday meat pie was showcased at Christmas in eastern Canada, rich in meat, holiday spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice), thickened with that fall's potatoes, and sometimes enhanced with that fall's fresh apple juice and maple syrup (slightly sweetening the meat mixture). It is traditionally served with a sweet condiment (sometimes in the modern day that is ketchup, believe it or not) — a fruit/tomato jam or onion marmalade would have been traditional. The first time we made it was for Jakob, as a remembrance of that wonderful New Year's party with Ulrike shortly before she became ill.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp fine salt (add just a pinch if using salted butter)
- 1 tsp thyme — dried
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (helps tenderness)
- 8 to 10 tbsp cold water — as needed
- To brush crust: 1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp (25 ml) water
Filling
- 1½ cups roughly mashed potatoes (~2 potatoes)
- 2 pounds ground beef and pork (option: just pork)
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 2 medium carrots, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1+ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ cup unfiltered apple juice (optional)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1¼ cups beef broth
Pastry
- 1
Combine flour with salt and thyme. Cut in butter until mixture is a roughly even crumbly texture. Add lemon juice and water and blend just until dough comes together (avoid too much handling and don't knead).
- 2
Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes. While pastry chills, prepare filling.
Filling
- 1
Cook peeled and cut potatoes in an uncovered pot of salted water until tender (~15 min) and drain. Roughly mash potatoes and set aside to cool.
- 2
In a large sauté pan or skillet, sauté onions, garlic, carrots until slightly caramelized — then add all seasonings and stir fry for a minute, then remove onion mixture from pan. Sauté beef, pork and/or veal until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat (if needed) and then add onion mixture back to meat.
- 3
Add cider, maple syrup, and beef broth and bring up to a simmer. Let mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, until most of liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, stir in roughly mashed potatoes and cool to room temperature (in freezer) — cool filling helps flaky crust.
Assembly & Baking
- 1
Preheat oven to 375°F (350°F convection).
- 2
On lightly floured surface, cut dough (⅔ and ⅓), roll bigger piece out to ⅛ inch thickness and line 9 inch pie plate. Brush inside with beaten eggwash. Put in tourtière filling.
- 3
Roll out remaining dough, cut a hole in center (for steam to escape) and place on top of filling. Pinch edges of crust together and brush with eggwash. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until pastry is a rich golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes, then remove from pan and serve.
A note from James
Serve with an onion marmalade. Tourtière can be made up to 2 days in advance and reheated in a 300°F oven. Drink/wine pairing: a Cabernet Sauvignon! Any red wine of depth.
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