Christmas Tourtière. Traditional French Meat Pie.

Step 1

I like to make my filling the day before and chill it in the fridge overnight before adding it to the pie crust. I also grind my own pork shoulder for this recipe using a meat grinder attachment on my electric mixer. If you can’t grind your own, ask your butcher if they can coarse grind some pork shoulder for you. The coarse grind makes for a much meatier textured tourtière.

Step 2

In a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, season the ground pork with salt and pepper and brown it quickly over high heat. Drain off the excess fat and remove the meat from the pan.

Step 3

Add the celery, onion, garlic, and chopped mushrooms to the pot and cook until the onions are softened but not browned.

Step 4

Add the browned pork back to the Dutch oven along with the bay leaf, savoury, thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, salt and stock.

Step 5

Simmer very slowly, stirring occasionally, until practically all the liquid has disappeared from the pan. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Step 6

On a well-floured surface, roll out ½ of the pastry to about a 12-inch circle and fit into the bottom of a 9- to 10-inch pie plate.

Step 7

Roll out the top crust to about 2 inches larger than the top of your pie plate.

Step 8

Add the cooled filling and add the top crust, cutting a small circle out of the pastry’s center to allow steam to escape.

Step 9

Tuck the top crust under the bottom crust at the edges of the pie plate and crimp or flute the edges of the crust to seal.

Step 10

Brush with an egg wash made by whisking together 1 egg and 1 tbsp milk. (You will not use all this egg wash.)

Step 11

Decorate as desired by cutting shapes like leaves out of extra pastry if desired. I score the tops of the leaf shapes with the tip of a sharp knife to create the veining in the leaves. Small Christmas cookie cutters also make good pastry decorations for a tourtière.

Step 12

Chill the pie for 30 minutes before putting it into the oven. You can also prepare the entire pie a day in advance and bake it on the day you are serving it.

Step 13

Preheat the oven to 375°F and bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 250°F and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes until the crust is an even golden brown.

Step 14

If the edges brown too quickly, cover them with thin strips of aluminum foil.

Step 15

Let the tourtière rest for 20 minutes before serving.