Tourtière
WHY THIS RECIP E WORKS
This French Canadian meat pie is a Christmas tradition for
feeding a crowd. After settling on ground pork for our pie
lling, we had to x the dry, pebbly texture that resulted from
cooking the meat twice—once in the skillet and once in the
oven. Adding shredded potato to the meat moistened it and
made it cohesive, and we found that mixing the pork with
baking soda before cooking tenderized it. We avor the lling
with savory onions, garlic, and thyme cooked in butter and
then add the warm spices customary to the dish—allspice,
cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Finally, we bake the lling in
our favorite tender, aky sour cream crust.
INGREDIENTS INSTRUCTIONS SERVES 8
FILLING Plan ahead: Both the pie dough and the lling need to chill for an
Salt and pepper hour or more before the pie can be assembled and baked. If time is
short, use store-bought dough. Shred the potatoes on the large
¾ teaspoon baking soda
holes of a box grater just before cooking. Don’t soak the shreds in
2 tablespoons water water or their starch will wash away and the lling won’t thicken
2 pounds ground pork properly. To cool the lling quickly, chill it in a large baking dish.
Eat the pie when it’s just slightly warm.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 onions, chopped fine 1. FOR THE FILLING: Dissolve 1¼ teaspoons salt and baking soda
3 garlic cloves, minced in water in medium bowl. Add pork and knead with your hands
until thoroughly combined. Set aside until needed, at least 20
1 teaspoon minced fresh
minutes.
thyme
¼ teaspoon ground allspice 2. Meanwhile, melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon Add onions and ¼ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally,
until browned, 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, allspice,
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and 1 teaspoon pepper and cook until
Pinch ground cloves fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth and potatoes, scraping up any
browned bits, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and
3 cups chicken broth
simmer, stirring often, until potatoes are tender and rubber
12 ounces russet potatoes, spatula leaves trail when dragged across bottom of pot, 15 to 20
peeled and shredded minutes.
CRUST
3. Add pork to pot, breaking up pieces with spoon, and cook until
½ cup sour cream, chilled
no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Transfer lling to 13 by 9-inch
1 large egg, lightly beaten baking dish and refrigerate, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until
2½ cups (12 1/2 ounces) all- completely cool, about 1 hour. (Cooled lling can be refrigerated,
purpose flour covered, for up to 24 hours before assembling pie.)
½ teaspoon salt
4. FOR THE CRUST: Combine sour cream and egg in bowl. Process
12 tablespoons unsalted our and salt in food processor until combined, about 3 seconds.
butter, cut into 1/2-inch Add butter and pulse until only pea-size pieces remain, about 10
pieces and chilled pulses. Add half of sour cream mixture and pulse until combined,
about 5 pulses. Add remaining sour cream mixture and pulse until
EGG WASH
dough begins to form, about 10 pulses.
1 large egg yolk lightly beaten
with 2 tablespoons water
5. Transfer mixture to lightly oured counter and knead brie y
until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each
half into 6-inch disk. Wrap disks tightly in plastic wrap and
refrigerate for 1 hour. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften
slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling.
6. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450
degrees. Roll 1 disk of dough into 12‑inch circle on lightly oured
counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it
onto 9‑inch pie plate, letting excess dough hang over edge. Ease
dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with your hand
while pressing into plate bottom with your other hand. Wrap
dough-lined pie plate loosely in plastic and refrigerate until dough
is rm, about 30 minutes. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of
pie plate.
7. Pour lling into dough-lined pie plate. Roll other disk of dough
into 12‑inch circle on lightly oured counter. Loosely roll dough
around rolling pin and gently unroll it onto lling. Trim overhang
to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Pinch edges of top and bottom
crusts rmly together. Tuck overhang under itself; folded edge
should be ush with edge of pie plate. Crimp dough evenly around
edge of pie plate using your ngers. (If dough gets too soft to work
with, refrigerate pie for 10 minutes, then continue.)
8. Cut four 1-inch slits in top of dough. Brush surface with egg
wash. Bake until edges are light brown, about 15 minutes. Reduce
oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until crust
is deep golden brown and liquid bubbles up through vents, 15 to 20
minutes longer. Let pie cool on wire rack for 2 hours before
serving.
TO MAKE AHEAD: Wrapped dough can be refrigerated for up to 2
days or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw
completely on counter before rolling. Assembled pie (without egg
wash) can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before brushing with
egg wash and baking.
Tourtière, for the Uninitiated
This pie traditionally includes meat, potato, and
warm spices in a aky crust. Ours works within
that tradition but takes it up a notch.
RICH, EASY CRUST: We include sour cream and
an egg in our dough for tender texture and great
avor.
THICK, COHESIVE FILLING: We peel and shred
russet potatoes and cook them in chicken stock,
adding the ground meat to the resulting starchy
sauce.
WARM SPICES: Tourtière uses unusual spices for
a savory pie—cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and
cloves.
Test Kitchen Discovery: Not Just for Baking
Most of the time baking soda lightens cakes, cookies, and
pancakes, ensuring that they rise. It has a di erent function for
our tourtière: We mix the ground raw pork with a little water, salt,
and baking soda to keep the meat tender despite relatively long
cooking.
SURPRISE FIND: Baking soda helps tenderize
the meat.
