Guests and co-workers have asked me to share the recipe for tourtière (meat pie) and for pie crust. I'm hoping this illustrated HOWTO can serve as the reference I point them to.
Pie Crust
These instructions are for 1 crust. You need 2 (top + bottom) per tourtière, so we'll make 4 of these. I make them individually in the food processor. I use the same kind of crust for dessert pies as well, this works for everything.
1.25 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 small stick of butter, chilled (~110 grams)
~1/8th cup of ice water (as required)
Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the food processor.
Cut your chilled stick of butter into little pieces.
Start the food processor and quickly throw in about one piece of butter per second. This should take about 10 seconds and break up the butter into tiny clumps. When you're finished, it should look like this:
Add 1/8th cup ice water (or a little more, as required) in a very slow thin trickle while running the processor. The dough will rapidly start clumping up and after about 20-30s will form a single ball. Don't use too much water! It shouldn't stick to your fingers, it should stay in ball shape when handled.
Press it lightly onto a counter, then wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes. When you take it out of the fridge, let it stand for 5-10 minutes so it softens and is easier to work with.
Filling
(makes two)
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 white potato
2 cloves of garlic
2 lbs ground pork
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup beef broth
spices (basil, nutmeg, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves)
Dice your potato. Cook it in boiling water with a bit of salt for 10 minutes (until tender), then drain and reserve.
Chop up the onion and mince the garlic.
In a large skillet or casserole, cook the onion and garlic in a bit of vegetable oil until tender, about 3 minutes.
Add the pork and beef. Let it cook on high heat about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add some salt and pepper, the spices, and the beef broth. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time to make sure all the meat cooks evenly and the beef gets mixed well with the pork. It looks like this when you just start cooking:
After 30 minutes, take the meat off the heat and let it cool down. Go back to your potatoes and mash them up:
Then combine them with the meat
Roll the Crusts
While your meat mixture continues to cool, it's time to prepare the crusts. Flour your work surface and plop down the first ball of dough. I like this cutting board, it has a gauge to help with shaping.
Now roll it out so it's bigger than your pie tin. [Note: never buy a teflon rolling pin like this one, it's junk. Get a proper wooden one.]
Place it in your pan and run a knife gently around the edge to cut off the overflow.
Spoon in your meat mixture into both bottom crusts. Brush some beaten egg onto the edges to help seal the top crust.
Place the top crust on top, and brush the whole surface with some more beaten egg. Use a fork to texture the edges and seal both crusts shut together.
Bake at 375F for about 60 minutes.
Done! Make this 1-2 days before you're ready to eat, it's better after a day or two.
