Tourtière Arbézienne

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp pepper

  • 2 tsp salt

  • 2 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp cloves

  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

  • 1/2 tsp allspice

  • 660g of lean pork

  • 340g of lean beef

  • 250g of diced onion

  • 250g of yellow potatoes (peeled)

  • 1-2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

Directions

  1. Mix the six spices to make a spice mix. Use around 3 tsp per kg of meat or to taste. I usually double the above for 3kg worth of meat. For however much you make, there should basically be a 2:1 ratio of pork to beef. The original recipe calls for 2kg of lean pork and 1kg of lean beef, but I’ve converted the whole thing to 1kg total here which will likely still get you 2 tourtières.

  2. Quarter potatoes and boil in lightly salted water until tender. Drain, mash, and set aside.

  3. In a large pot place a knob of butter and melt until it just becomes noisette. Set heat to medium/low add onions and cover. Sweat onions until translucent.

  4. Mix the meats and mashed potatoes together until well combined. Once the onions are ready, add the meat to the pot and stir well. Keep the heat low so as not to overcook the meat (about 3/10 on my stove). Stir frequently and monitor for increasing liquid (water + rendered fat).

  5. When you feel the meat has been cooked through, push it to the side and remove excess liquid. I usually get a cup worth for 3kg, so I’m thinking you’ll probably remove at least 1/3 of a cup but you’ll have to use your judgement. If you take out too much, the tourtière will be dry and if you leave too much it will mess with your crust. You can also always add a bit back later on, but you cannot take any away. This is the one step that I fight the most with my grandmother about. Save the liquid for a soup, or a meaty cocktail!

  6. Once the liquid has been removed, add 3 tsp of the spice mix as well as the crushed garlic. Stir well over low heat and allow flavours to meld. Taste every few minutes and adjust as necessary.

  7. Once you are satisfied, refrigerate meat until cool. I leave it overnight for simplicity, but it just needs to cool through. Time it in a way that makes sense with your life.

  8. When the meat has cooled, preheat oven to 350 and prepare pastry dough. You should make enough for the tops and bottoms of at least two 9 inch pies.

  9. Line the pie pans with the bottom crusts and fill with the meat. Place the tops on each and create a central vent for steam, seal the edges etc. Add a decoration or two!

  10. Brush the top with a combination of whisked egg and a bit of milk/cream.

  11. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Allow to sit for a few minutes and enjoy immediately, or freeze and reheat for another day.

  12. Directions for Beyond Meat

  13. For the spice mix, everything stays the same except reduce pepper to 1 tsp.

  14. For meat filling, use 1 kg of Beyond Beef. Everything else the same.

  15. Steps 1-2 Same.

  16. Place meat by itself in with onions (Keep potatoes separate). Cook through and stir so that it develops a ground meat texture.

  17. Turn heat to min and add 5 tsp of the spice mix to the meat. Stir until combined.

  18. Add the mashed potatoes and stir until combined.

  19. Allow flavours to meld for a short time, tasting and adjusting as necessary. I found that at this stage I could never really overcome the flavour of Beyond Beef, but I did end up putting something like triple the spice mixture. in this case 9 tsp. So you might want to just put the whole thing in since you’ll only have around 7.5 tsp.

  20. Allow meat to cool (similar caveat about overnight in the fridge). Preheat oven to 350 and prepare pastry dough.

  21. 8-10 Same.