Canada: Tourtière

Sacha Dufour

Tourtière: Canada

In my French-Canadian family, a delicious yet simple meal that we eat is ‘‘Tourtière’’ or meat pie. Although it is a common recipe among French-Canadian families, the Tourtière is the one my family shares every year at Christmas time. When I was young, I would watch my grand-mother create this delicious meat filled pastry in amazement. When Christmas came around in December, I was the first one in line to help my grand-mother in the cooking process. After several Christmases, our family decided to name this meat pie after my grand-mother herself. For the past ten years, my family’s famous recipe was now known as Gisèle’s Tourtière. When this dish was served, it was normally accompanied by mashed potatoes, sliced carrots, a piece of chicken and beans with a nice, fresh garden salad as an appetizer. What was great about my grand-mother’s recipes was that most of all the fruits and vegetables that were included were home grown from her very own garden, such as tomatoes, carrots, herbs and zucchini. There are many things that make Gisèle’s Tourtière so great. The first thing is obviously that it’s delicious, no one can argue with that. The magnificent blend of meat, vegetables and spice put together was oh so good. There was never one person in my family who didn’t eat all their plate, ever! The other reason that made this recipe so special was the fact that it brought my family together. It’s rare that I get to see all my cousins, aunts and uncles and grand-parents due to education and because some family members live too far for regular visits. December 25^th was the day I knew my grand-mother would prepare her famous ‘‘Tourtière’’, along with my whole family there together sharing stories and eating the oh so good Gisèle’s Tourtière.

THE RECIPE

·         Ingredients (serving 4 people)

• 150 ml of egg yolk
• 50 ml of egg whites
• 200 ml of Crisco all-vegetable shortening
• 150 ml of Milk
• 750 ml of flour
• 15 ml of salt
• 100 ml 7-Up
• 2.0 Kg lean ground Beef
• Kg ground Pork
• Diced Onions (2 Approx)
• Red pepper chopped up in small squares
• Carrots chopped into small squares (3 carrots, optional)
• 20 ml of Butter
• Pepper
• 5 ml of Cinnamon
• Would it be possible to convert ml into cups and teaspoons? (at least approximate amounts)

·         Procedure

Make sure to wash your hands!

1. Starting with the dough, Mix the 750 ml of flour with the 200 ml of Crisco and the 15 ml of salt. Use your hands to mix and blend these ingredients until it comes together as a dough.
2. Add 200 ml of water, along with the 100 ml of 7-Up. Wait for the bubbles of the soft drink to stop bubbling. Using a spatula, make sure to get the flour at the bottom of the mixing bowl. Mix again until the dough really holds together.
3. Take the dough and separate into 2 portions. Make sure to have one portion bigger than the other. Approximately 2 inches more. Flatten each portion until the dough is about 1 inch thick. To seal the dough together use the egg yolk (spread it on each portion of dough).
4. For the meat: in a large saucepan, melt the butter and cook the onions. (230 degrees Celsius). Add the beef and the pork, the sliced carrots (optional), sliced rep peppers and 250 ml of water. Cook for approx 1 hour and 30 min. If all the water has evaporated midway through cooking, add another 200 ml of water.
5. Let the mixture of meets and vegetables cool down.
6. With the longer piece of the dough on the bottom of the pie container, put the cooled meat and vegetable mixture on it. Then add the second smaller dough covering the meat and vegetables.
7. Add a very thin layer of egg whites on top of the last layer of dough for it to hold together nicely.
8. Place pie on the middle rack of the oven. Let it cook for 1 hour at 175 degrees Celsius.
9. Let it cool for 25 minutes.
10. Eat up!

Enjoy, and be ready for seconds!

Source

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