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From:
Subject: Re: [Q-R]Traditional tourtière recipe for Susan - enjoy!
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:37:58 EST


Is this traditionally served at a specific time during the holidays? It's
served hot, right? What would you traditionally serve with it?

Thanks.
Brenda


In a message dated 11/20/2010 2:41:41 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
writes:

Hi Susan,

Here's my favorite Tourtière recipe. Easy as pie. This has the
traditional pork, beef, veal mixture of meat in it but you can make it
all pork if you prefer, or you can even add a bit of chicken or duck. In
this recipe, the meat is not pre-cooked, so the cooking time is longer.
Your kitchen will really smell like Christmas!

TOURTIERE

This recipe yields three medium sized pies. Or, if you want to make this
the traditional way, use a 4-5 quart casserole dish as your tourtière
mould.

You will need:

1 lb pork (shoulder preferably)
1 lb beef or bison (moose or deer, if you have it)
1 lb veal
6 medium onions finely diced
4 large potatoes
3 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and dry mustard
(optional but you'd be missing the real deal...)
1/2 cup chopped parsley (optional)
1 sprig of savory and a couple leaves of sage chopped up (optional)
Enough pie dough for three pies.
1 egg and a little milk whisked together to brush over the dough before
cooking.

The night before -

1. If the meat isn't already ground, you can either grind it using the
large 1/4 inch holes of your grinder or chop it finely using a regular
knife. Mix all three meat in a bowl, add the finely diced onions, the
salt and pepper, the spices and herbs if you are using them (which I
recommend you do), and mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Peel and cube the tatters in 1/4 inch sized cubes. Put in a bowl,
cover with water and refregirate overnight.

The next morning -

3. Prepare your pie dough. You can cheat and buy ready-made dough,
but make sure it is made with real lard (like Tenderflake, not to name
it) and not some fancy vegetable stuff. Wouldn't taste the same.

4. Line your three pie plates or the large casserole, whichever you
are using, with the dough;

5. Take the meat and potatoes out of the fridge. Drain the water from
the potatoes but reserve it, you'll be needing it.

6. Spoon in the meat and the potatoes, alternating one row of meat
(first) then potatoes, then meat until you have no more. I like to
finish with a layer of meat on top.

7. Pour the potatoe water over the pie filling until it reaches the
top of the filling but no more. If you don't have enough, add cold
water. The potato starch in the water will thicken the sauce in the pie,
and you'll have a nice tender filling that binds well together and won't
dry out and crumble all over the place.

8. You might want to turn on your oven at this point and set it at
400°F.

9. Brush a bit of the beaten egg on the rim of the pie and then lay
the top shell. Press edges to seal well.

10. Make a hole in the middle of the top shell, to allow steam to
escape. You'll need to insert a little chimney in it. To make one, wrap
a piece of aluminium foil around your index finger in the shape of a
little tube. Insert that little tube into the vent hole and seal the
side of the hole with a little bit of rolled dough dipped in the egg
mixture.

11. Now, to decorate your pie. Brush the entire surface with the egg
mixture, then with the tip of a sharp knife, taking care not to cut
right through the dough, draw whatever you fancy. I usually make little
Christmas trees all around.

12. Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F, then lower the temperature to 250°F
and cook another 6 (yes, six) hours. If you are using smaller pie
moulds, keep an eye on them because they will cook faster and will
probably require no more than a couple hours before they are done. You
can also slightly undercook the meat pies so that you'll finish cooking
them just before you serve them (not recommended if you have used frozen
pie dough).

There. 12 easy steps to my "bestest" tourtière. I hope you like it!

Cheers,

Mona
.Susan DuBois wrote:
> Hi, Mona,
>
> I couldn't find it :(
>
> And, yes, a distant cousin's recipe would be appreciated.
>
> This is a great list!
>
> Susan
>
> --- On *Sat, 11/20/10, Mona Andrée Rainville /<>/*
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Mona Andrée Rainville <>
> Subject: Re: [Q-R] still here
> To: "Susan DuBois" <>
> Cc:
> Date: Saturday, November 20, 2010, 6:23 AM
>
> Hi Susan,
>
> If you can't lay your hands on it, would a distant cousin's recipe
> do? I'm sure there are lots of us here who could provide you with
> a reasonable fac-simile.... ;-)
>
> I'll be making my tourtières, patés, and pies next weekend. We
> still have not finished preparing the garden for Winter yet. So it
> does not feel like the Holiday Season is quite around the corner
> just yet...though it is, it is....
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mona
>
>
> Susan DuBois wrote:
> > Hello, cousins,
> >
> > I'm here. Am tearing my kitchen apart looking for Grammie's
> recipe for pork pies! grrrrrrrr
> >
> > Susan
> > in rainy California
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For the list web page,
goto:
> > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~unclefred/main.htm
> <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Eunclefred/main.htm>;
> > -------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
>
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> of the message
> >
> >
>

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