French Canadian Tourtiere

This is a traditional French Canadian Tortiere recipe that has been in our family for over a century. Every Christmas my Dad will make a few of these, one for dinner, and the others to hand out to family. The measurements are pretty specific so I always try and stick to the recipe very exactly. As for the pastry, it's standard fare, other than we use lard rather than butter as the fat. You can always use store bought *gasp* pastry dough if you want to.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

10 oz Minced Pork

6 oz Minced Beef

1 Celery Stalk

1 Medium Onion

1/2 Leek (Basically the white part) 

1/4 tsp Ground Clove

1/4 tsp Ground Allspice 

1/2 tbsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Savoury

2 Cloves Garlic

Salt & Pepper

2 - 3 tbsp Butter

1/4 - 1/2 cup Panko 

Water 

1 Egg

Pastry Dough 

Preparation

• Finely mince the onion, celery, leek and garlic.
• On medium-high saute the meat, breaking it up into a fine mixture, about 5 minutes. Avoid browning.
• Add onion, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, savoury and salt & pepper (to taste), and cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
• Add your garlic, leek and celery, and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add your butter, once melted reduce heat to medium and cook for an additional 5 minutes, adding water (by the tbsp) if necessary to keep the mixture moist.
• Remove from heat and add the panko by the spoonful until all of the moisture has been absorbed.
• Let cool in the fridge.
• Preheat your oven to 375°.
• Roll out your pastry to fit a 9" pie dish and add the bottom layer of pastry. Brush lightly with beaten egg white and cook for 2 minutes to seal the pastry.
• Now add the chilled meat patting it down lightly with a spoon to remove any dead spaces.
• Rollout your top crust and cover the pie. Crimp and slit the edges trimming off excess pastry and brush with beaten egg, yolk and white combined. Lightly sprinkle the top with coarse salt. (Not too much!)
• Cook at 375° for 35 to 40 minutes.