We had our 15th or 16th (I’ve lost count) progressive dinner recently. It was our turn to host the main course, so we got to choose the theme and we chose Canada’s 150th birthday! This opens up the menu to several options and we all did very well! We began our feast with appetizers at John and Nancy’s, they had a lovely selection of Canadian cheeses with a variety of crackers. We were up next and we chose Tourtière as our main course. We finished the evening off at Tom and Iona’s where we enjoyed a Canadian Touque cake! I wish I had taken a picture of it, but it was dark and we were already into a few bottles of vino! 😉
Tourtière is a traditional Québequois meat pie with as many variations on the recipe as there are families! So, of course, I had to put my own spin on it. But before I get to the recipe, allow me to give you a bit of history that I found interesting (like to learn more? This is a good article).
Tourtière can be traced back to the 1600’s, served on Christmas Eve as part of a massive réveillon after Christmas Mass, it is time-consuming and expensive to make. Original recipes were made of cubed meat instead of ground meat and usually contained a variety of pork, beef, veal and in some cases, wild game. The uniqueness of Tourtière comes from the spices used to flavour the meat blend, most commonly would be cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, summer savoury, and thyme. Some even added grated potato, bread crumbs or oatmeal to help soak up the liquid. The pastry is always a rich, savoury, buttery pastry in a pie form, or are baked in layers like a lasagna; I chose to make mine a log similar to Beef Wellington. I will say, it was tasty but I doubt I would make it again (unless it was a special request).
The first recipe I tried included grated raw potato which was added to the browned meat at the end and stock poured over to help cook it. Both JT and I agreed that it lead to a starchy filling and I decided right then and there that I would not go that route. You do need a little something to absorb some of the flavouring liquid so I chose bread crumbs. For this quantity of meat, some recipes added an entire cup, but I really wanted to avoid that starchy, gummy texture so I reduced both the stock and breadcrumbs significantly and was much happier with the outcome. The other thing I did slightly differently, is I added cooked bacon! It really brought a nice, layer of flavour to the pie without being overly bacon-ie.
The pastry is rather rich and employs a completely different method than regular pastry, the butter is room temperature and is basically rubbed into the flour and then the lightly beaten eggs and water are added at once, using the paddle attachment until just combined. Then it is set into the refrigerator to allow for the butter to set. It is rather odd, but it does work and it does make a very rich pastry that is both delicate but firm enough to hold the heavy meat filling. I decorated the log with maple leafs and then I scored the leaves for effect.
Tourtière
Please click here to print recipe
Serves 6, plus
Ingredients:
- 100 g bacon
- 275 g each beef, veal, and pork
- 130 g onion, finely diced
- 125 g celery, finely diced (roughly 2 ribs)
- 10 g garlic, finely minced (roughly 2 cloves)
- 125 mL beef stock
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 20-30 g bread crumbs (unseasoned and finely ground)
- 1 tsp each, salt and pepper (less salt if your bacon was really salty or to taste)
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp dried thyme
Directions:
- Crisp the bacon. Reserve 30 mL (2 tbsp) of the rendered fat (set remainder aside if desired).
- Caramelize the onions in the 15 mL (1 tbsp) bacon fat. Near the end, add the garlic and stir until you can smell the aroma (this will cook further, later in the process). Reserve the onions and garlic mixture.
- Brown meat in batches using a little bit of the remaining 15 mL of bacon rendering. On the last batch of meat, deglaze the pan with a mixture of the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce.
- Turn the heat right down and return all of the meat to the pan, and add the celery and stir well.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs a little at a time while stirring to achieve a slightly drier texture but be careful, because it can make it mushy and starchy (I used about 20 g of the bread crumbs).
- Lightly toast the aromatic spices (nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon). Mix with salt, pepper and dried thyme and sprinkle evenly onto the meat mixture and stir well. Allow the meat to cool completely and then assemble into the pie crust.
The Savoury Pastry Recipe
Please click here for original recipe. The recipe makes enough for 1 log.
Please click here to print this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 470 g cake and pastry flour
- 12 g salt
- 254 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 125 mL cool water
- 2 eggs
Directions:
- Combine flour, salt and smallish chunks of butter in the large bowl of your stand mixer, equipped with the paddle attachment. Mix until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour (should be mealy).
- Combine the water and eggs and mix well. Add the water egg mixture to the dough all at once and mix until just incorporated, the dough will be very shaggy.
- Transfer the dough without a lot of handling to a smaller bowl and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours so the butter can set.
- Turn the shaggy dough out and bring it together with your hands, flattening and folding the crumbs until it comes together.
- Roll as required or wrap and chill or freeze for future use.
Assembly:
Ingredients:
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Bring the pastry out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes (or less if it is hot in your kitchen) before you wish to begin rolling. Roll pastry with a little flour on parchment paper.
- Roll a rectangle about 30 cm x 40 cm (12″ x 16″) and place the meat mixture into the centre in a long log, leaving space at each end. Fold up the ends and pinch closed and fold up the sides and pinch closed. Cut off excess pastry at the ends, reserve for decoration.
- Flip the entire log so that the seam is underneath. Roll the remaining pastry a little thinner than the rectangle and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter (I used a maple leaf).
- Lightly brush the pastry with the lightly beaten egg. Decorate with cut outs and then brush the cutouts with the remaining egg.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until pastry is golden and shiny. Slice into a variety of thicknesses to please all your guests.
Notes:
- I served the Tourtière with Bacon Jam recipe and home made ketchup (recipe to come) and this Chutney.
- Sides to consider: creamed corn, peas, green beans with garlic and almonds, and or mashed potatoes. It is a heavy meal so you may wish to include a salad.
- JT made a wonderful no knead bread and I cut little patts of butter with my small maple leaf cookie cutter.
This whole combined recipe looks the max! Waw! So beautifully done too! Happy late Canadian Day!
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This “pie” is new to me. It reminds me of a bastilla somewhat. That’s because of the cinnamon I suppose. I wonder if there’s some line that can be drawn connecting Canada and Morocco. Then again there’s a Lebanese pie called sheefa that shares some of these elements to That line is getting to be a zig zag! I love cultural food “blood lines”. GREG
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P.S. YES! We must meet in person one day! Maybe in Chicago or we may even make it up to Toronto. xo
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I’ve never tried Tourtière, but it seems finger-licking! I am so motivated to prepare it, Eva! 😉
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Thanks for your comment Agness, and welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as my crowd did.
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What a gorgeous pie! Are you familiar with the pasty? It’s a hand pie with a meat filling – a very crude version of the much more elevated dish that you’ve made here. That’s what you get when your cuisine is French-inspired instead of Cornish-inspired. Interestingly, people often eat their pasties with ketchup, as you do your tourtiere. I prefer gravy, though. (Although I’d certainly not turn my nose up at a homemade ketchup!)
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Thank you for your comment Jeff. Years ago I organized a conference for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto and had to research foods of that time. I worked with the university’s caterers and one dish was a meat pasty just as you described. I had amost forgotten about it, thank you for the memory. Those meat pies were highly spiced and flavoured, often to hide the fact that the meat had gone bad! It makes me wonder if that is how this dish came about! I have a feeling you would like this contemporary version.
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I think I’d like it, too. I’m interested to make a pasty, just because it’s something I’m very familiar with but have never made … but quite honestly, they’re mundane. I’m much more interested to make your tourtiere because it looks like a showstopper and it sounds delicious.
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Gosh, this is gorgeous! Really pretty and enticing. I’ve heard of this dish, but have never had it. Sounds like you had a great time. How could you not have, with this yummy creation as your main course? 🙂
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Thank you kindly John, these get togethers ar always fun and the food is wonderful. Let’s say no one ever goes home hungry!
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Eva, this tourtière looks like a piece of art! And it sounds already extraordinary from your description (meat filling, butter-base pastry….), but you have made it so beautiful and neat, like a professional pastry chef, and the leaves are so cute! It must have been really difficult, but I am certain it was worth all the efforts because it looks so festive and special! I am in awe!
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Thank you so much for your kind and flattering words Sissi, I must admit I had fun making it and by luck the second one worked out even better than the first.
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I love tourtiere and a Canadian friend once made it for me. It was so delicious! Love the pastry decorations on top 😀
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Thank you Lorraine, it was fun to make and experiment with the filling. Slicing the log was easier than slicing a pie.
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What an impressive meat pie, Eva! Your leaf garnishes are perfect.I still need to come up with a menu for our next dinner club—so far I’m drawing a blank!
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Thank you for your kind words, Liz. The leaf garnishes were easy because I used a maple leaf cookie cutter. JT and I always brainstorm these dinners and then figure out which one would fit our time frame and what we actually feel like making.
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A picture perfect Tourtière. Yes please, I would love a big slice also a slice of JT no knead bread with a pat of maple leaf butter.
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Hi Norma, it was a very tasty, yet filling meal. The bread is always awesome!
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Looks divine, Eva. You can’t beat a good pie. I love the sound of your dinner parties, even if it does start with cheese!
I’m very inspired by the Toronto cooks books. Not many photos, but lost of great indivisible recipes here and there. One especially for something called bomba? I’d never heard of it either.
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I actually had to make that bomba for the meatball recipe for the morning show, now I keep some on hand…such a flavour booster! I am glad you are enjoying the cookbook, a cook as experienced as you are, need only inspiration and that is what I’d hope the book would bring you.
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What a glorious looking tourtiere with its maple leaf decorations. Now I want maple leaf cutters for cookies etc.
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Thanks Maria, I think I may have an extra one, I’ll check and if I do, you can DM me with your address and I’ll post it off!
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That’s sweet of you to offer but I’ll make a trip to Bulk Barn and check them out. I haven’t been in ages and I’m jonesing for gummy bears. 🙂
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That’s a masterpiece, Eva. Wish I could taste one slice of your meat pie!
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Thank you so much Angie.
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