Tourtiere

Tourtiere is a traditional French-Canadian meat pie having its origin in Acadia and Quebec. The meat used to prepare the pie consists of pork and/ or beef or veal. The dish is traditionally served on New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve in Quebec, Canada; however, it is also relished throughout the year. Apart from being a popular dish of Quebec, it is enjoyed a lot in bordering regions of U.S. and all over Canada among French-Canadian families. Though pork is used as one of the common meat products in the pie, however, a few recipes may not have pork as the ingredient. The filling ingredients of the pie entirely depend upon the availability in a particular region. In coastal regions, the filling is made of fish, usually salmon, whereas in inland regions, pork, rabbit, game, and beef are used as the filling ingredients of the pie.   

The name of the dish has been derived from French word “tourte”, translated to “Passenger Pigeon” in English, which was used as the original filling ingredient of tourtiere, though it is extinct now.  

Preparation Overview

The basic tourtiere recipe suggests first preparing the meat mixture by cooking together ground pork, ground beef, garlic, onions, salt, sage, thyme, cloves, and black pepper, in some water. This mixture is then spoon filled into pie crust; the top crust is placed over pie; and the edges are pinched to seal. Various slits are created on the top of the pie before baking it in oven, so as to allow the steam to escape. The pie is baked until golden brown. A recipe variant suggests brushing the edges of the pie with egg wash prior to baking it. The pie is allowed to cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving it.    

The pie crust or pastry dough may either be bought from commercial stores or made at home with flour, shortening, unsalted butter, salt, water, and lemon juice. The ingredients are combined together to form a dough, which is shaped in the form of a disc, wrapped in aluminum foil, and allowed to chill until the filing is ready.    

Regional Variations

There are a couple of tourtiere recipe variations between different regions of Quebec, Canada, which have been discussed as under:

• Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and eastern Quebec- in eastern Quebec and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions of Canada, the pie is slow cooked, and is made with meat (often game) and potatoes, which have been cut into small sized cubes, rather than being used in minced or ground form. This variety of the meat pie is commonly referred as tourtière saguenéenne or tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean, in order to differentiate it from tourtiere varieties made with ground meat.  

• Montreal- in Montreal, the largest city of Quebec, Canada, the meat pie is exclusively prepared with pork that has been finely ground. The main specialty is the use of finely ground pork, which is rarely available elsewhere; in most of the other Quebec regions, coarsely ground pork is used. The meat is sautéed slightly, before the addition of water, and thereafter cloves and cinnamon are added to ground meat, which really makes the dish unique.

Nutrition Facts

One slice of tourtiere provides around 350 calories, obtained from 20 g of fat, 15 mg of cholesterol, 480 mg of sodium, 28 g of carbohydrate, and 15 g of protein.