When I was growing up it was a Christmas Tradition each year for my mother to make Tourtiere. My father is French Canadian and the Tourtiere was a tradition in his family. Tourtiere is a type of a meat pie which is served in French Canada during the Christmas Holidays, normally on Christmas Eve during their Reveillon celebrations, which last pretty much all night. My father is from the Saugenay Lac St Jean region of Quebec.
My mother was English however and staying up all night was not an option in our home. Neither was meat pie on Christmas Day, and so we always had it on Boxing Day. Truth be known it was a very important part of our Christmas holiday celebrations no matter when we ate it and it was something all of us looked forward to each year.
I do believe that there are as many recipes for Tourtiere as there are families that eat it. Some opt to use finely chopped meat . . . pork, or veal . . . and others use ground meat, sometimes just pork, and often a combination of pork and beef. My mother always used just beef. I like to use pork and beef. My ex sister in law always used chopped pork shoulder. (She was Acadian French.)
Some use dried bread crumbs to absorbe some of the moisture from their filling. Some use grated raw potato cooked in with the meat. Some grate cooked potato into the filling . . . I like to use dried potato flakes because you don't get any lumps of potato, but it thickens the filling nicely.
All will have finely chopped onions and ground cloves. Garlic, savory, thyme, etc. . . . these are optional. I do use them, but my mother only used the savory along with the onion and cloves. I also add a few chopped celery leaves and some parsley. It changes each year. I keep fiddling with it a bit here and a bit there in my quest for the perfect Tourtiere. I think my sister always makes the best ones, but alas . . . she is 2,000 miles away, so mine will just have to do. The Toddster isn't complaining!
I do believe that there are as many recipes for Tourtiere as there are families that eat it. Some opt to use finely chopped meat . . . pork, or veal . . . and others use ground meat, sometimes just pork, and often a combination of pork and beef. My mother always used just beef. I like to use pork and beef. My ex sister in law always used chopped pork shoulder. (She was Acadian French.)
Some use dried bread crumbs to absorbe some of the moisture from their filling. Some use grated raw potato cooked in with the meat. Some grate cooked potato into the filling . . . I like to use dried potato flakes because you don't get any lumps of potato, but it thickens the filling nicely.
All will have finely chopped onions and ground cloves. Garlic, savory, thyme, etc. . . . these are optional. I do use them, but my mother only used the savory along with the onion and cloves. I also add a few chopped celery leaves and some parsley. It changes each year. I keep fiddling with it a bit here and a bit there in my quest for the perfect Tourtiere. I think my sister always makes the best ones, but alas . . . she is 2,000 miles away, so mine will just have to do. The Toddster isn't complaining!
*Tourtiere 2013*
makes two nine inch piesPrintable Recipe
one egg yolk beaten with a bit of water to glaze
For the filling:
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Place the two pies on a large baking try and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and crisp on the bottom.
I did a little one for Todd so you could see how flakey that pastry is and what the filling looks like. He really enjoys this each year, and of course he doesn't have to watch his waistline!
(My sister's pies this year! Yes we both like to take photos of what we cook and eat! It must run in the family!)
Note: If you only want to make one pie, just cut all the ingredients for the filling in half. Or make the full batch and freeze half of it for another time. You can also bake this in individual pies. My sister does and uses canning jar lids for the pans. Works perfectly!
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