Classic French Canaidan Tourtiere
Christmas at my family’s house never included a Tourtiere. In fact, I didn’t have a tiny clue what the heck a Tourtiere was until seeing it on the table at my wife, Robyn’s, family Christmas Eve feast. I mean, who ever heard of serving a minced pork pie at Christmas?
Not me, that’s for sure.
Christmas Eve with Robyn’s family a big deal, unlike the complete non-event on my side. The whole family would get together, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins included, and partake in a huge Ukrainian orgy of carbohydrates and fat. Perogies, cabbage rolls, Ukrainian Sausage, and a bunch of other stuff I can neither spell or pronounce. It’s great! You just unbutton your pants and eat like nobody’s watching.
But there was always this one lonely looking plate at the back of the table that didn’t seem to fit the theme for the rest of the meal.
Tourtiere.
Truth be told, I wasn’t a fan of it at all when I tried it, and it didn’t exactly have a legion of fans around the table either. I always found the filling kind of dry, and it always needed a swig of water to help wash it down. It was the kind of pie that could only be saved by gravy. Gravy that wouldn’t even exist until tomorrow’s turkey dinner.
Last year I saw Tourtiere for sale at my favourite local bakery, Duchess Bake Shop, and figured that if I was ever going to like Tourtiere, this would be the one. I heated it up, and sure enough it was moist and delicious! I was starting to see how this became a beloved dish in Quebec. It was good enough that it got me thinking about recreating my own version of it at home this Christmas.
So that’s what I did.
A couple points about Tourtiere before we get cooking:
- Tradition is a little sketchy on Tourtiere. Some say add potatoes, some say not. Some say add diced potatoes, some say mashed. I didn’t want any potatoes to be a noticeable part of my pie, so I only used 1,and I blended it into the onions. I figured it would act as a bit of a binder for the pork and help it hold together. I believe I was right on that. I might even add slightly more next time, but I’m hesitant. This pie tasted darn near perfect to me as is.
- I pulsed the onion, garlic, and diced potato in a food processor until finely minced. I stopped short of pureeing. Again, I wanted the finished product to look like a pork pie, not a pork and veggie pie.
- The spice combinations seemed to vary from recipe to recipe. I knew cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg were pretty traditional so I used them. Savory is also big in French Canadian cooking, so if you’ve got it, use it. Equal parts Thyme and Mint is a good substitute of you need to.
- Most people make Tourtiere with ground pork, but regular ground pork has a tendency to get dry (as I learnt that first Christmas with Robyn”s family). To combat that, I had my my butcher grind me some extra fatty pork, essentially unseasoned sausage meat, and used that instead. The pie remained nice and juicy, and not dry at all. Another bonus to using a great butcher shop.
- If you’ve got a go-to pie crust recipe, go ahead and use it. However, don’t be afraid to use a frozen pie dough like the one I got from Duchess. Sometimes we just don’t have time for messing around, making dough from scratch, and we don’t have to apologize for cutting the occasional needless corner.
Now that we’ve made ourselves some shortcuts, let’s get cooking.
Fry the pork in a skillet. Medium heat will do as we’re not trying to colour the meat here. Add in the minced vegetables, plus nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. These are strong spices, so I just used 1/4 tsp of each. Sometime I need an extra pinch, and sometimes I don’t.
Roll out half the dough and fit it into a standard 12″ pie plate. Fill with the cooled pork mixture.
Roll out the other half of the dough and top the pie.
Time for a crimp.
And egg wash the top.
In 1 hour you’ll have golden perfection!
Success!
If you’re already a fan of tourtiere, I’m sure you’ll love this one. If you’re not, this may be the one to turn you.
Classic French Canadian Tourtiere
2 lbs ground pork (extra fatty if you can get it) or unseasoned sausage meat
1 small onion
1 medium potato
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chopped savory
1/2 tsp each of ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon
Salt to taste (Usually around 1.25- 1.5 tsp)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 package of frozen pie dough- enough for a top and bottom crust
Start by cooking the pork in a large skillet over medium heat. Be sure to break it up thoroughly as you don’t want large chunks remaining.
Peel and dice 1 medium russet potato, 1 medium onion, and 3 cloves of garlic. Place in food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed.
When the pork is mostly cooked (about 10 minutes), add the onion mixture to the pan and stir.
Add ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper to taste.
Sautee the pork mixture for another 10 minutes, and add chopped thyme and mint. Stir well to combine and take off the heat to cool.
Roll out pie dough into 2 circles big enough to line a 12″ pie plate top and bottom.
Fill the crust with the cooled pork mixture and cover with top layer of dough. Crimp the edges and brush the beaten egg on top.
Bake at 375 degrees for approx 1 hour until the top crust is golden brown.
Let Tourtiere rest at least 10 minutes before cutting into it to serve.
Makes 4 obscene portions, or 6-8 more reasonable sized ones.
My mother is from Quebec, so Tourtiere was a staple in our house growing up. The only thing she did differently was she would sometimes mix regular ground beef to the pork if she could not find decent ground pork. I miss her Tourtiere, which she hasn’t made in years. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Thanks for giving my recipe a read, Ian!
Yes, the adding of beef seems to be a popular variation. I’m sure there’s lots of good ones out there, but the ones at the stores sure aren’t them. lol.
Being french Canadian, in my family tourtiere was a staple at Christmas. My family used a mix of pork and beef 80/20 mix, and used crushed saltines as the binder. The pies were always moist and they hold together much better than the potato version.
Yeah, I considered using beef, but I really wanted to keep it straight-up pork. With the potato so finely minced, it held together pretty well. I may try some variations yet.
Had to check out your recipe cause the picture of your pie looks just like mine; all meat – no carrots or other veg. I use a ground boneless pork butt for the right fat/meat ratio and half a cup of dried potato flakes or fine bread crumbs as binder, just barely browned to preserve moisture. Plenty of savory, a bit of sage and cloves and lots of finely diced onions for flavor. YUM!
Glad to see you’ve embraced this fine French-Canadian tradition. My family had it after midnight mass on Christmas eve, served with a tossed salad and ice cream & crème de menthe parfaits for dessert. Well worth staying up for. (Plus us kids would sleep a bit later Christmas morning!)
Looks good. It is not something I’ve ever tried to make, but I think you’ve convinced me to make it. Some relatives have used half pork and then either elk or moose for the other half. I am a huge fan of the moose blend, but it requires extra fatty pork like you used to keep it from being too dry.
I LOVE TORTIERE, I’M FROM QUEBEC AND MAKE SEVERAL A YEAR, NOW LIVE IN BC
A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BE. THANKS FOR YOUR RECIPE
CORINNE PETERS
I’m trying this tonight! 😀
Great looking recipe.I made my first tourtiere last Christmas and what a success! I ventured a bit off of the more traditional recipe and braised a pork shoulder with more or less the same ingredients as you. I also used ground pork with the same ingredients and mixed the two together which certainly gave it a heartier texture. But boy was it delish! I plan to make it again this weekend, along with a pâté and scotch eggs. I cannot wait!
Oh man, Scotch Eggs! I make those with quail eggs (pain in the butt to peel) so they’re smaller with more crunchy exterior coating. So great.
Going to give this one a try. I have had this craving lately for the Canadian Plate that was served at Le Manoir in Pointe Claire, tourtiere, baked beans and a pork hock, with a gravy for the tourtiere. Thought I would buy a ” French Canadian” pie from the High Level diner, though it was necessary to try before I buy………. nope, good but not anything like any of the ones I had in Quebec.
The best one I’ve had commercially available is from Duchess Bake Shop. They make a really nice tourtiere!
I hope my recipe worked out for you!
Ah, yes, tourtiere. I come from St. Paul, and it was 90% francophone when I came into the world. And my mom learned quickly from neighbours and friends how to make tourtiere. Until I left home, we always had it for Christmas Eve as well, and then some more if we wanted for Christmas Day. She still makes wonderful tourtiere at 90! Not surprised that la Duchesse would be serving up great tourtiere. After all, where do they come from!
Took the meat stuffing and stuffed into a blue hubbard squash!!! FANTASTIC. Your filling recipe is very good.
What a great idea! Thanks so much for letting me know.
I am French from Northern Ontario (did not speak English until high school, both sides of my family are francophone going back to 1600’s on both sides) and in my town, the usual way to make Touriere (can’t figure out accents on my iPad!) was with beef and pork, in about equal proportions. We do not use any spices but a lot of onion and garlic minced finely and salt and pepper to taste. Everyone I know also serves with homemade cranberry sauce. We eat it at Reveillion after Midnight Mass, with Christmas brunch, and again on Boxing Day. I don’t think any of these other spices were even available in the early days of French-Canada, so my guess is they were added later.
I’ve also come across a lot of people who claim to be French, who misspell the word Tourtiere, so I doubt the authenticity of those recipes online and in recipe books.
I agree that good quality, organic meat, simmered on low for hours with broth or water, is the most important part. If you’ve never tried with just a lot of garlic and onion, give it a try! Especially important is to eat with whole berry cranberry sauce (canned is fine). I honestly have never been able to finish a piece of Toutiere that includes all those spices, and find them overbearing.
Try it with ground lamb meat and no garlic! Tastes great!