French-Canadian culture, food and the holidays

Besides researching the genealogy it is also fun to research the culture, especially food! What did my ancestors like to eat.

 

On the Quebec mailing list on RootsWeb there was the topic of Christmas cuisine and the following (several) messages were made by :

 

Mona Andrée Rainville to quebec-research

show details Nov 20 (1 day ago)

Hi there,

I've been asked to explain the difference between tourtière and meat

pie....

Hum...

Well, both contain pretty much the same ingredients, more or less. And

both tend to be called tourtière around Christmas time.

But where the meat filling that goes into a meat pie is already cooked,

the meat filling that goes into a real tourtière is uncooked and needs

to cook a long time with the pastry. Originally, tourtières were made

with tourtes, a kind of pigeon now extinct because of uncontrolled

hunting practices. Porc and veal were substituted for the tourte and

here we are.

Over the years, with mothers often having to work outside the home, meat

pies have become more popular than traditional tourtières, and now if

you ask around you, most people will describe a meat pie when you ask

about tourtière. Meat pies are called "pâté à la viande" in French. Not

tourtière.

Don't get me wrong, it is all good. But meat pies were essentially an

English import, whereas tourtières are French.

Good night,

Mona

 

And :

 

Tourtières now usually contain potatoes. Well, the spud was hardly a

staple in New France in the early days, was it. Spuds only gained access

to French Canadian kitchens in 1740. Before that flour was mixed in with

the meat to thicken the sauce.

 

And:

 

Mona Andrée Rainville to Susan, quebec-researc.

show details Nov 20 (1 day ago)

　

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

 

And:

 

Hi Brenda,

This kind of tourtière is a usually served hot (or at least warmish)

either on Christmas eve or on the actual day. And, yes, it is better

served warm or hot.

At our house, we serve it with a salad and the traditional side of green

tomato ketchup or fruit ketchup, on Christmas day. But traditionally it

is one of the several Christmas eve table offerings, and is served

alongside pork hock stew, meatballs stew, glazed ham, and turkey and

trimmings, followed by desert, of course, and card playing till

breakfast is served.... which is when tourtiere is eaten cold.

Green tomato ketchup and tourtière are like bagel and cream cheese, you

could separate them, but why would you... :-)

Cheers,

Mona

　

　

From: S-J to quebec-research

show details Nov 20 (1 day ago)

　

Susan:

"be careful what you wish for". You may get swamped with Tourtierre recipes

as every French Canadian family I know has their own "family" recipe. Here

is my sixth generation one.

My great grandmother Julie Lavoie (bn 1854) married in Mattawa, Ont, taught

this recipe to her daughters, etc etc. My 9 yr old granddaughter is the 6th

generation to learn how.

It is great cause it takes less than 1 hour in the oven and you will never

taste a better one.

GREAT GRANDMERE JULIE's TOURTIERE (makes two deep 9-10" pies)

it's easy easy EASY to make and less than 1 hour in the oven !!

18 full slices bacon cut in small pieces (1 lb package)

3 lbs lean minced pork

2 lbs lean minced veal (ground beef is ok too)

3 cooking onions finely chopped

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup boiling water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mix spices in a bowl

3 cloves minced garlic (or 3 tsp garlic powder)

1-1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp sage

1 SMALL pinch ground cloves (this is secret ingredient but go r-e-a-l

easy!!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3 cups mashed potatoes (leftovers from previous night's dinner is fine)

Pastry for two 9" double crust pies

Suggestion: it looks hard but is REALLY easy if you get everything ready on

your counter

first.

Mix all spices in a bowl and set aside.

Fry bacon over moderate heat til cooked but not crisp. Drain excess fat if

necessary.

Add pork, veal and onions + 1/2 cup water

Break up meat w/fork while cooking & not in big clumps til lightly browned

(the 1/2 cup

of water makes breaking the meat up real easy).........then

Add 1 cup of water & all spices.

Reduce heat, cover & simmer approx 45 minutes, stirring occasionally so it

doesn't stick.

Mix in mashed potatoes thoroughly and let cool a bit.

Line two 9" pie pans with pastry and fill each with half the meat mixture.

Place top

crust on each pie, seal & flute edges, & slash top crust several times to

let steam escape

while baking.

Wrap strips of kitchen foil around edges so they don't burn.

Bake in preheated 450 deg oven 10-12 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 deg and bake another 30 minutes.

Good hot or cold. Freezes well. I used to make 6-8 pies at a time for the

freezer.

Serve with side salad or your favourite vegetables & hot rolls or home made

bread.

Note: I call it the name above but you can call it "Mattawa Tourtiere"

because Julie

Lavoie married in Mattawa, Ontario........ had seven children there (my

Memere was

one)...Memere married in Mattawa and had her children (including my Mom)

born and raised

there too.

We always had it after Midnight Mass at home - great anytime

Source: from Julie Lavoie b1854 to Catherine Gauvin b1895 to Marie-Jeanne

Rail b1916 to myself to my daughter, & now to my granddaughter.

Enjoy...........Shirley-Jean

 

As stated there as many recipes as French-Canadians - a small sample of recipes follows:

 

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/tourtiere-quebec-meat-pie/

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/333961

http://www.grouprecipes.com/95748/tourtiere-from-quebec.html

http://www.grouprecipes.com/75046/quebec-tourtiere.html

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/10085/quebec-tourtiere

http://www.suite101.com/content/oldfashioned-tourtiere-a140772

http://www.whats4eats.com/meats/tourtiere-recipe

http://recipes.kaboose.com/tourtiere.html

http://frenchfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/tourtiere.htm

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1826,153172-244202,00.html

http://www.gatehousegourmet.com/2010/08/22/tourtiere-quebec-meat-pie-recipe/

http://www.vealrecipes.com/tourtiere-du-quebec/

http://www.soundvision.com/Info/halalhealthy/r.tourt.asp

http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Quebec%20Tourtiere/itemid/73485/task/display/recipeid/73148/recipecategoryid/114

　

For the healthy weight watcher:

http://www.weightwatchers.ca/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=82521

　

Serves 20:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2298515/tourtiere_du_lac_stjean_christmas_meat.html

　

Other F-C recipes both traditional & contemporary:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~unclefred/recipe2002.htm

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~unclefred/recipe2003.htm

 

The French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan in their publication MICHIGAN’S HABITANT HERITAGE has also published several tourtiere recipes. My aunt would make them using one of the first recipes printed in the journal, saying that my grandmother would make them and they tasted soooo good. What a great way to remember your ancestors. Bon appetit.