Tres Bon Tourtiere I Made It Ii

Tres Bon Tourtiere

chuckieb 4 years ago
I'm late for November's Pie Challenge but it's not all my fault. :) I wanted to make
Tres Bon Tourtiere
but my Grocery store kept getting short shipped on ground veal and it didn't come in until this past week! (I'm going with that) :) LOL!

Tourtiere is a traditional Quebecois specialty that is made over the Christmas season. It's readily available at bakeries and at Christmas Markets and even frozen in grocery stores, but I always wanted to give it a whirl myself.

Tourtière can be traced back to the 1600s, when Québécois settlers attended midnight mass on Christmas Eve and celebrated afterwards with réveillon, a late-night festive feast fit for a king. A tradition borrowed from Europe, the table would be overflowing with seafood, meat dishes, wine and luxurious sweets, consumed late into the evening. Tourtière was always on the table, and in 17-century Québec, the pie was traditionally served in a cast-iron cauldron and stuffed with cubed meats, often wild game (rabbit, pheasant, or moose).
Four centuries later, the pie remains a staple dish both at réveillon and in Québécois households. Although recipes vary, the basic ingredients are the same: a buttery pastry shell is filled with spiced meats and vegetables, and then baked until the crust is golden and flaky.

I am not a Tourtiere expert by any means but any tourtieres I have ever had have been strictly filled with meat (with grated potato to help things keep moist) but no vegetables, and this recipe remains true to that.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly. I used ground pork, ground beef and ground veal. Surprisingly there was virtually no fat to drain off. The instructions said to bring the meat mixture, garlic, seasonings and broth to a boil but I found the mixture not liquidy enough to boil per se. It did bubble.

I just used store bought pie shells.

I had cooled my meat mixture at room temperature but it was still a ways away from dinner time, so I set it in the fridge.

When I went to fill the shell with the meat mixture it became quickly apparent that I had WAY too much filling for the shell. Infact, IMHO, you could make two pies out of this. It's no problem of course because I'll just go buy two more pie shells tomorrow or....buy some tart shells and make mini tourtiere tarts for Christmas appys.

The recipe says once you have the pie assembled to cook the Tourtiere in the oven for 15 minutes at 400F but it took twice that long until it looked golden brown and done to my eye. (Perhaps due to the fact that I'd chilled the meat mixture?)

IT WAS FANTASTIC! It's a great recipe and both hubby and I loved the flavouring. The herbs and seasonings are perfect. I will totally make this again and again. YUMMERS!

Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noel! This is indeed a tres bon tourtiere! :)
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DIZ3 4 years ago said:

Your pie looks amazing, Chuckieb! Very nice photos! Tourtiere is on my "bucket list" of foods that I want to try someday. Lucky that you can even find veal. The stores here do not carry it.

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chuckieb 4 years ago said:

Thank you DIZ! I've always heard people complain about how time consuming it is to make Tourtiere but I didn't find it any more time consuming than making other dinner dishes. Perhaps if you made your own crust I guess, that would be time consuming. But if you do decide to make Tourtiere one day then I highly recommend this recipe. No big deal if you just go with pork and beef if you can't find veal. And if you do that, I'd just add another 1/4 lb. of pork as to me, the pork is the best tourtiere meat IMHO.

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LindaLMT 4 years ago said:

Your pictures are wonderful Janet! and the recipe looks great. I'm going to have to try this one sometime. 15 minutes doesn't seem long enough to get a pie crust cooked thru and browned.

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

That looks awesome Janet, and sounds delicious! I love how tourtiere's differ from family to family. I've usually seem them with more spices than herbs like allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg etc. This combination looks good with just the cloves, savory, sage and parsley flakes.
Did you also cook it at 375F for 30-35 minutes or just the initial 400f for 15 minutes?

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mommyluvs2cook 4 years ago said:

Wow, this looks amazing Janet, and so unlike anything I've ever made or tried! I think my store may have veal? I know Michael would love this but wonder if my kiddos would? My youngest is not a huge meat eater so probably not. Maybe I'll just wait until the kiddos are at Grandma's to give this a try :)

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chuckieb 4 years ago said:

Thanks Linda! I don't cook pie crust that often so didn't really think about the cooking time.

And LOLOL, ROFL Shona...you're right!!!! I got to the part of the recipe where it said to bake the pie crust for 15 minutes and then I quit. DUH! My apologies to LOR that I thought the recipe was inaccurate. It's just me that is. :) My hubby abhors allspice and the tourtieres I've liked the best have always had minimal 'christmassy herbs'.

Tourtiere is a very mild meat pie Michelle. When Jim and I used to be in England often on business I had a few pork pies there which are kinda sorta similar. But ya, if the kids aren't big meat eaters they very well may not like it.

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Cosmicmother 4 years ago said:

Lol, Janet! I thought the same thing until I scrolled down to click the green 'I like it' button and saw the second round of baking! I bet the next time you make this, it will be even more scrumptious. Merry Christmas! :)

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