Traditionally served in Quebec as part of the Christmas Eve réveillon, the meal typically served in French-Canadian homes after Midnight Mass, this old-fashioned tourtiere recipe calls for both ground beef and ground pork and is delicious served cold.
A Traditional Holiday Staple
Originating in Quebec, the tourtiere is more commonly known outside of Quebec as meat pie. Made from ground beef, ground pork, and/or ground veal, it is a surprisingly easy dish to prepare. While tourtiere is a traditional staple of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day family dinners, it also makes an excellent meal for cool autumn and winter evenings.
The spices are what give this meat dish its distinctive flavouring; it is therefore crucial to use fresh, quality seasonings. A recipe for pastry crust is provided below; however, frozen store bought crusts made also be used successfully by simply inverting one frozen crust over a filled crust and sealing the edges with water or egg wash. Four frozen crusts will be needed for this recipe.
This recipe makes two meat pies, and the pies freeze very well.
For the Crust:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp white sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup shortening
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp distilled white vinegar
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cup in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together water, egg yolk, vanilla, and vinegar.
- Stir into flour mixture and knead dough briefly, just until smooth.
- Cover and chill at least 15 minutes prior to rolling.
- Roll dough to fit pie pans.
For the Filling:
Ingredients:
- 2 lb. medium ground pork
- 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
- ¼ medium onion, grated
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp. each of salt and pepper
- ¼ tsp. each of ground allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves
- 1 cup peeled and grated potato (uncooked)
- pie pastry
Directions:
- In a heavy bottom pot, place meat, onion, water, salt, and pepper.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
- Cook until meat is no longer pink.
- Add allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix well and taste. Add salt to taste, if necessary.
- Gently place pie crust in pie plates.
- Spread half of grated potato over each pie crust.
- Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Top potatoes in each pie with about ½ of meat mixture.
- Cover pies with remaining pastry dough.
- Seal edges and cut vents into top pastry to allow steam to escape. Pastry can be coated with egg wash, if desired.
- Bake meat pies in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes.
- If serving hot, remove from oven and let stand 5 – 10 minutes before serving.
- If serving cold, chill pies for at least 2 hours or overnight before slicing.
References and Further Reading
Virtual Museum of Canada. Reveillon. VirtualMuseum.ca
Carrie Prefontaine - Carrie (Runstedler) Prefontaine completed her Ph.D. in English Literature in 2006. Her dissertation examined the works of the British ...
