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Tourtière is a French Canadian dish traditionally served on Christmas Eve. This meat pie is made with ground pork or beef and lots of delicious spices. We found this dish on several menus when we spent Christmas in Quebec a few years ago. It’s definitely a classic!
My grandpa Beliveau’s family was originally from Quebec but migrated to the prairies bringing their French Canadian cuisine and traditions along with them. My mom recalls going to her grandparents’ house after Christmas Eve mass where her mémé (granny) would put on an elaborate meal including Tourtière. Unfortunately, my great grandparents passed away before I was born so I actually don’t have any memories of mémé making Tourtièr but, it seems as time passes and since both of my own grannies have now passed away, I have a strong desire to hold onto family traditions and keep them alive. With a little help from my mom and a couple of great aunties, I have tracked down the Tourtière recipe that my great mémé made.
My husband and I have started our own Christmas Eve tradition of steak, crab and a lovely bottle of red wine but Tourtière is also a great addition to Christmas brunch. The flaky pastry definitely adds to the flavour of this dish. I found doubling up the pie crusts takes this pie to the next level with an extra flaky and buttery crust. Be sure to serve up a generous dollop of ketchup on the side!
Tourtière Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground savory
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 medium potato, boiled and mashed
- 4 deep-dish pie crusts, about 10″
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp milk
Directions
- In a heavy pan or skillet, cook ground meat until no longer pink. Drain off any fat.
- Add onion, celery, garlic, salt, savory, pepper, allspice, bay leaf, and water.
- Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Simmer uncovered 5 minutes longer or until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Stir in potato.
- Remove bay leaf.
- Let cool slightly.
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Line a pie dish with 2 layers of pie crust.
- Pour pork mixture into the pastry-lined pie dish.
- Top with the 2 remaining pie crusts. Crimp the edges and use a fork to poke some venting holes in the top layer of the crust.
- Combine egg yolk and milk and brush over pasty.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
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We always have tourtiére on Christmas Eve – it’s a tribute to my French Canadian ancestors.
I love that!
[…] Tortière […]
I just froze the toutiere, do i thaw before cooking it?
Do I thaw toutiere before baking it?
You could just bake from frozen but I put mine in the fridge to thaw (if I baked it prior to freezing).
If you froze it before baking, put it into the oven from frozen and allow for about 20-30 minutes extra baking time.
Enjoy!