Classic Tourtière Or Québec Pork Pie Recipe 46

Steps:

• In a large, heavy frying pan, combine pork with cold water and heat to boiling point. It should be slightly soupy. Add onion, celery, pepper, bay leaf, savory, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 1 1/4 hours; stir often. Add more water if mixture dries out. Halfway through cooking time, season with salt to taste. Stir in rolled oats and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. If you're adding the flour, at this point sprinkle the TBSP's over the meat and saute for a couple of minutes then add the extra water to make the mixture sloppier and continue to cook until it thickens again. Remove bay leaf and allow to cool. Setting the entire pot in the snow bank speeds up this process! Meanwhile, line two 9-inch pie plates with pastry. When meat mixture is lukewarm, divide it between two pie shells and spread it out evenly. Brush around outer edge of pastry with the beaten egg. Place top crust on the tart and press gently around the edge to seal. Trim pastry, crimp edges and cut steam vents in top crust. Decorate as desired. Bake in preheated 425°F oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375°F and bake another 25 minutes or until crust is golden.

Steps:

• In a large, heavy frying pan, combine pork with cold water and heat to boiling point.
• Add onion, celery, pepper, bay leaf, savoury, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon.
• Cook, covered, over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, adding more water if mixture dries out.
• Halfway through cooking time, season with salt to taste.
• Stir in rolled oats and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Remove bay leaf.
• Meanwhile, line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry.
• When meat mixture is lukewarm, spoon into pie shell and cover with remaining pastry.
• Trim pastry, seal edges and cut steam vents in top crust.
• Decorate with pastry cutouts as desired.
• Bake in preheated 425 deg F oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 deg F and bake another 25 minutes or until crust is golden.

Steps:

• Place flour, salt, and frozen butter slices into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse on and off until butter is about the size of peas, about 30 seconds. Stir vinegar into cold water; drizzle water/vinegar into the flour mixture. Pulse on and off until mixture is crumbly and holds together when you pinch a piece off, about 10 seconds. If dough isn't pressing together, drizzle in another teaspoon of water.
• Transfer mixture to a work surface. Press it together until it becomes a lump of dough. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
• Mix salt, pepper, thyme, sage, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mustard, clove, and cayenne together in a small bowl.
• Place potato quarters in a saucepan; cover with cold water. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat. Simmer until cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Scoop out potatoes and transfer to a bowl; save cooking liquid. Mash potatoes with a potato masher.
• Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook and stir until onions turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir garlic, celery, and spice blend into the skillet with onions. Stir until onion mixture is evenly coated with the spices, about 30 seconds. Add ground beef and ground pork. Ladle about 3/4 cup of the potato cooking liquid into the skillet.
• Cook and stir until meat is browned and has a very fine, almost pastelike texture. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 45 minutes. Stir in mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Divide chilled dough into 2 pieces, one just slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger piece out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured work surface. Place in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Roll top crust out into a circle about 11 inches in diameter. Cut small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.
• Fill bottom crust with the meat mixture; smooth out the surface. Whisk egg and water together to make egg wash. Brush edges of the bottom crust with egg wash. Place top crust on the pie and press lightly around the edges to seal. Trim excess dough from the crust. Crimp the edges of the crust. Brush entire surface of the pie with egg wash.
• Place in preheated oven. Bake until well browned, about 1 hour. Let cool to almost room temperature before serving.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, mix together the ground pork, cloves, cinnamon, onion, salt, celery, bay leaf and water. The water will help break up the raw pork. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 3 hours, or until the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf.
• Towards the end of the pork cooking time, place the potatoes into a separate saucepan and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mash potatoes. When the pork is done, stir the mashed potatoes into that pan until evenly blended.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line two 9 inch pie plates with bottom crusts. Spoon equal amounts of the pork filling into each crust. Cover with top crusts and flute the edges to seal.
• Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crust is golden brown.

Steps:

• Combine flour with salt. Cut in butter and shortening until mixture is a roughly even crumbly texture. Add lemon juice and water and blend just until dough comes together.
• Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes. While pastry is chilling, prepare filling.
• Filling: Cook potatoes in an uncovered pot of salted water until tender and drain. Roughly mash potatoes and set aside to cool.
• You may use pork or a combination of pork, beef and veal.
• In a large sauté pan or skillet, sauté beef, pork and/or veal over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat, add onions and seasonings and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add cider and water and bring up to a simmer. Let mixture simmer for about 15 minutes, until most of liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, stir in potatoes and cool to room temperature. This can be prepared a day in advance.
• Preheat oven to 375 °F.
• On a lightly floured surface, cut dough in half, roll out to just less than ¼-inch (.5 cm) thickness and line an 8-inch (20 cm) springform pan. Fill with tourtière filling.
• Roll out remaining dough, cut a hole in center (for steam to escape) and place on top of filling. Pinch edges of crust together and brush with eggwash. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until pastry is a rich golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes, then remove from pan and serve.
• Tourtière can be made up to 2 days in advance and reheated in a 300 °F oven.
• Chef Anna Olson.