Pierrette's Tourtiere Pie

Author: Linda Thompson

For most people, being unable to produce perfect pie dough is not a serious failing. Unfortunately, it’s a woeful state of affairs for me, whose mother and husband are both dyed-in-the-wool French Canadians. As a member of a French Canadian family in Quebec, it goes without saying that tourtière, a fragrant pie made of ground meat and spices traditionally served on Christmas Eve, has to be part of my holiday menu.

In Quebec, tourtière is much more than a tradition. It’s also a source of comparison and good-natured rivalry among friends and family throughout the holiday season. “Pierrette’s tourtière is very good,” I once overheard my aunt whispering about my mother’s tourtière. “I think I detected a bit of nutmeg in it.” Most people have their own variation of the recipe. For some it’s a sprinkling of clove or nutmeg or a combination of several ground meats. For others it’s a carefully guarded secret ingredient that is the subject of great speculation. My mother adds mashed potatoes to the ground meat mixture for an extra moist result.

The tourtière-baking marathons usually start well before Christmas and freezers are stocked with pies ready to pop in the oven for unexpected guests. Given my shortcomings in the pie dough department, last year I began to mull over how I could possibly serve tourtière during the holidays. I can bake cakes and cookies with the best of them, but the art of the perfect pie dough escapes me. Despite my best attempts, my dough is crumbly instead of flaky, heavy instead of light and never seems to achieve the perfect golden color. Even recipes passed along by both my mother and my mother-in-law with assurances that they were “foolproof” were no match for me. I had to come up with another plan.

So it was that on a damp, chilly Saturday in November, I enlisted the aid of my husband, Ben, to make our tourtières. He likes to cook and loves to eat, so it wasn’t too much of a hardship for him to give up a Saturday morning for the cause. Armed with my mother’s recipe, I began to brown onions, garlic and meat while my husband blended flour, shortening and water. He then carefully rolled out the dough, taking care to keep the counter surface well floured. I watched with envy as six perfect circles of dough were rolled out, and then three were gently transferred to waiting pie plates.

I filled the plates with the aromatic mixture of cooked ground meat and spices and waited while my husband covered them with the remaining crusts. Together we sealed the bottom and top of each pie shell together, slit the tops to let steam escape and lightly brushed egg yoke on the finished pies.

Finally, we popped them into the oven and I waited impatiently for them to bake. An hour later, the tourtières cooled on my counter top. They looked as perfect as any I’d ever seen, but the taste test was yet to come. Ben and I shared a slice of the still-steaming pie and broke into wide grins. Not only did the tourtières look good, they tasted great! We spent the rest of the day happily baking more and served them with pride on Christmas Eve and throughout the holiday season!

Tourtiere Pie Recipe

Ingredients

Meat Filling
Enough for 3 pies.

3 lbs. ground pork
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of savoury
½ teaspoon of thyme
½ teaspoon of pepper
½ teaspoon of ground clove
1 Bay leaf
1 cup mashed potato

Pie Crust
Makes 4 double pies.

5 cups of flour
¼ tablespoon of salt
1 lb. of shortening
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1 cup of water minus 1 finger
1 egg yoke with water to brush top of pie dough to bake golden.

Instructions

Blend flour, salt and shortening together with pastry blender until well mixed and make a well.
In measuring cup, break 1 egg and add vinegar. Stir and fill with water until there is 1 cup of liquid.
Pour into well. Stir with fork until well mixed.
Form the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 4250.
Heat cooking oil in a heavy pan and add pork, water, onion, celery and garlic.
Cook at medium heat until boiling, while stirring to break up meat.
Add salt, savory, thyme, pepper, clove and bay leaf. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
Remove bay leaf and add mashed potatoes and mix.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cool, stirring occasionally.
Roll dough on floured surface into six circular pie shapes.
Place bottom crusts in three pie plates.
Spoon meat mixture into bottom pie crust.
Add top crust and seal.
Make slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.
Brush egg yoke mixture on crust and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Lower heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 15 minutes.

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