Tortiere Recipes

TRADITIONAL FRENCH CANADIAN TOURTIERE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• In a large pot, mix the pork, beef, onion, and water. Season with salt, pepper, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and chicken seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 30 minutes.
• Drain liquid from pot into a bowl. Transfer remaining meat mixture to a separate bowl and chill until ready to use. Place bowl with liquid in the refrigerator and chill 1 hour, or until fat has congealed on the surface.
• Scrape and discard fat from the chilled liquid. Spoon the meat mixture into pie crusts. Add 1 tablespoon of reserved liquid to each pie. (This prevents them from becoming to dry.) Place top crust on top of each pie and pinch edges to seal. Cut slits in top crust so steam can escape.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 50 minutes. Serve immediately or freeze until ready to use.

TOURTIERE (FRENCH CANADIAN MEAT PIE)

Steps:

• Place flour, salt, and frozen butter slices into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse on and off until butter is about the size of peas, about 30 seconds. Stir vinegar into cold water; drizzle water/vinegar into the flour mixture. Pulse on and off until mixture is crumbly and holds together when you pinch a piece off, about 10 seconds. If dough isn't pressing together, drizzle in another teaspoon of water.
• Transfer mixture to a work surface. Press it together until it becomes a lump of dough. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
• Mix salt, pepper, thyme, sage, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mustard, clove, and cayenne together in a small bowl.
• Place potato quarters in a saucepan; cover with cold water. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat. Simmer until cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Scoop out potatoes and transfer to a bowl; save cooking liquid. Mash potatoes with a potato masher.
• Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook and stir until onions turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir garlic, celery, and spice blend into the skillet with onions. Stir until onion mixture is evenly coated with the spices, about 30 seconds. Add ground beef and ground pork. Ladle about 3/4 cup of the potato cooking liquid into the skillet.
• Cook and stir until meat is browned and has a very fine, almost pastelike texture. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 45 minutes. Stir in mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Divide chilled dough into 2 pieces, one just slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger piece out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured work surface. Place in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Roll top crust out into a circle about 11 inches in diameter. Cut small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.
• Fill bottom crust with the meat mixture; smooth out the surface. Whisk egg and water together to make egg wash. Brush edges of the bottom crust with egg wash. Place top crust on the pie and press lightly around the edges to seal. Trim excess dough from the crust. Crimp the edges of the crust. Brush entire surface of the pie with egg wash.
• Place in preheated oven. Bake until well browned, about 1 hour. Let cool to almost room temperature before serving.

FRENCH CANADIAN TOURTIERE

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine pork, beef, onion, garlic, water, salt, thyme, sage, black pepper and cloves. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils; stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is cooked, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Spoon the meat mixture into the pie crust. Place top crust on top of pie and pinch edges to seal. Cut slits in top crust so steam can escape. Cover edges of pie with strips of aluminum foil.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes; remove foil and return to oven. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.

TOURTIERES

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, saute onions in oil until tender. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, cook beef and pork over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat. Add the onions, vegetables, potatoes and seasonings., On a floured surface, rolled the dough to fit two 9-in. pie plates with bottom crusts; trim crust even with edge of plate. Fill each with about 5 cups filling. Roll out remaining dough to fit tops of pies; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in crust and brush tops with egg. Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown., Freeze option: Cover and freeze unbaked pies. To use, remove from freezer 30 minutes before baking (do not thaw). Preheat oven to 425°. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°. Cover edges loosely with foil and bake 35-40 minutes longer or until crusts are golden brown.

TOURTIERE DU QUEBEC (FRENCH-CANADIAN MEAT PIE)

Steps:

• Place all the ingredients (except for pie shell) in a sauce pan and bring to boil and cook uncovered for 20 minutes over medium heat.
• Cool the meat mixture and pour in pastry lined pan. Note: I like to cool mine in refrigerator over night if time permits.
• Cover with the top crust, cut steam vents and bake in a 400F oven until golden, about 45 minutes.
• Freeze well.
• Note: If ground pork and ground veal cannot be found, you can use meatloaf mix which is all 3 meat but I'm not sure of the ratio.

TORTIERE

Steps:

• Make the pie dough, and chill in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• In a fry pan saute the onion and celery in the butter for at least 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and transfer all to a bigger cooking pot on the back burner. Brown the pork and then the beef in the fry pan, adding them each to the bigger pot when done. After adding the pork also add the beef stock and spices. Once the beef has been added too, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Let the filling cool a bit before adding the bread crumbs.
• Roll out the pie bottom and place it in the pie plate. Add the filling. It should make a nice heaping pie. Roll out the top, place it over the pie and crimp the edges. Cut some slashes to let the pie breathe, decorate it if you feel like. I don't get too fancy. Brush the top with egg glaze (1 egg, beaten with 2 Tablesp. cream)
• Bake the pie at 425 for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 375F and bake for a further 25 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

TOURTIèRE

Steps:

• Make the dough. In a food processor, pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and lard in stages, pulsing until the mixture forms bean-size pieces. Slowly add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together. It should be moist but not wet.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and gather into two balls. Flatten each into a disk with the heel of your hand. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• Make the pork shoulder. Season the pieces of pork aggressively with salt and pepper. Put 1 tablespoon of the oil into a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven, and set it over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, sear the meat on all sides until browned, turning as necessary, 10 minutes.
• Add the allspice berries and cinnamon sticks, and stir to toast them, then add the beer. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer steadily until the pork is very tender, 45 minutes to an hour. (When the pork is done, you can allow it to cool in its liquid and refrigerate it for one or two days before using.)
• Make the chicken or turkey. Heat oven to 325. Season the chicken or turkey thighs aggressively with salt and pepper, then roast in a cast-iron pan or shallow baking tray until their skin is crisp and they have cooked through, approximately 1 hour. (The chicken or turkey, too, may be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator before using.)
• Make the pie filling. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven set over medium heat, and when it foams, add the onions, garlic and parsley. Cook, stirring often, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and cook, stirring often, until they are soft and have given up their liquid, 5 to 7 minutes. Add wine or stock, and stir to deglaze the pan, then cook until the liquid has evaporated, 5 minutes.
• Add the ground pork and the spices, and cook until the pork has lost its pinkness, 5 to 7 minutes. Add grated potato, and cook another 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Shred the cooked chicken or turkey into the pot along with the cooked pork and about 1/2 cup of its braising liquid, stir lightly to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to a day.
• Assemble the pie. Place a large baking sheet on the middle rack of oven, and heat to 400.
• Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator, and using a pin, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 10 to 11 inches in diameter. Fit this crust into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate or cast-iron pan, trimming it to leave an overhang. Place this plate, with the dough, in the freezer.
• Roll out the remaining dough on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 10 to 11 inches in diameter.
• Remove pie crust from freezer, and put the chilled filling into it. Cover with remaining dough. Press the edges together, trim excess, then crimp the edges. Using a sharp knife, cut three or four steam vents in the top of the crust. Paint the pie's top with the egg wash.
• Place pie in oven on hot baking sheet, and cook for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350, and cook until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes more. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.