Tourtières or Pâtés à viande?
December 19, 2009 at 10:47 am (Food, Home Sweet Home)
Tags: Food, French-Canadians
Traditions are especially important during the holiday season in my French-Canadian family, but not having relatives close by or children of my own, I needed to find a way to connect with my heritage this season. So, I decided to make tourtières.
People, including French-Canadians, have different ideas of what a tourtière is. Is it the kind that looks like a pie filled with ground meat? Or does it have potatoes, carrots, and meat covered with a thick crust?
The answer to those questions depends on where you’re from. If you’re of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region in Québec, the former is a pâté à viande and the latter a tourtière. Everywhere else in French Canada, as far as I know, a tourtière is a meatpie, with nothing but ground meat (usually beef, pork and/or veal), onions, salt and pepper, and maybe a couple of herbs. These are the meatpies I made yesterday. Here in the North, however, many substitute the beef for caribou or moose meat. I’m anxiously waiting for a friend of mine to drop off some moose meat.
I’ve only made tourtières a couple of times before, and each time I had the help of a seasoned cook. This time I was on my own. Of course I had to make the necessary phone calls to my mother and grandma to make sure I had things right.
Judging by fluffiness and flakiness of the small pastries* made with the leftover dough, I succeeded with my pie crusts; actually, I think it’s the best crust I’ve made yet. The meat mixture was also quite tasty, so I’m guessing that my tourtières will turn out to be good, but only at dinnertime tonight will I know for sure.
*When I’m done with pie crust pastry, I roll out the leftover dough, brush on some butter, and spread brown sugar, (you can add cinnamon and nuts if you like.) then roll it up, cut it up, and bake it. Nothing is wasted!
Fawn said,
December 19, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Mmm, you’re making my mouth water, Carole! Did you know that they had this very topic as a discussion on CBC one day a month or two ago?
Carole said,
December 19, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Really? I didn’t catch it. There’s also another common French-Canadian dish called cipaille/cipâtes/six-pâtes. It’s a multi-layered deep-dish casserole with different meats (often wild meat), potatoes, and a thick, flaky crust to top it all off. It’s perfect for a family of twelve.
Mum said,
December 21, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Oh excellent. Will there be a tourtiere in your Christmas plans?
Carole said,
December 21, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Yes, I made two batches. From my first one Dave and I ate one and I gave the rest away. I have the second batch in my freezer of which I’ll probably keep one or two. Now I’m all tourtièred-out.
geraldine said,
December 27, 2009 at 11:10 am
yes tourtieres are the best meat pies around during the holidays, my son insists that I make them every Christmas. Made three and they are all gone. Will be making more this week for New Years Day. I have a great pie crust recipe if you need one. no Fail Pie Crust guaranteed.
Carole said,
December 27, 2009 at 11:26 am
Yes, mine are all gone too! They make a wonderful gift. By the way, I linked your pie crust recipe in the comments of my “Favourite Recipes” page.
Cheers
Baino said,
December 27, 2009 at 1:40 pm
HI Carole. Haven’t been over for a while and here you are posting wonderful pics and making my mouth water. We’re famous for our ground beef pies (I’m not a fan of the commercial ones myself) but this is something special. Must have a go. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
Carole said,
December 27, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Hi Baino! So nice to hear from you again. I’ll have to post my recipe for the tourtières for you to try. The meat part is quite simple, and the crust, well, same as a regular pie crust.
Thanks for your well wishes and hope you had a nice Christmas with family and friends in the land down under and have a new year that will bring many more joys, laughs, and friendships.
Cheers!