A classic French-Canadian meat pie! My classic Tourtière features a delicious and lightly spiced ground pork filling and a homemade pastry.
Tourtière is a classic French-Canadian meat pie often served at Christmas. For me, it’s a perfect Christmas eve meal. This is my Mom’s recipe and it’s one of my favourite versions. It’s made with ground pork, is lightly spiced and beautifully moist.
Not sure how to pronounce it? Some suggest “tor-tee-air“, but I more often hear it pronounced with just two syllables, such as “tor-tyair” or “tour-tyair“.
What makes a great Tourtière, in my opinion, is a flaky, lard-based pastry, so I’ve included an easy recipe here, as well. I feel like I can call it easy as I am pastry-challenged and even I managed to make it. All that said, it’s a busy time of year and if you’d prefer to go the store-bought pastry route, I’m certainly not going to judge :)
I love that Tourtière can be made ahead and frozen, then baked off as needed. It’s a real time-saver and a great thing to have in your freezer during the busiest days of the holidays. It would also make a great, homemade gift!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Lard: Tenderflake™ brand is perhaps the best known lard in my part of the world, but lard is lard, no matter the brand. Lard differs from vegetable shortening as it is animal based, rendered fat. It bakes up differently and has a different flavour. If you’d prefer not to use lard, butter would be a better substitute than a vegetable shortening, though vegetable shortening will work.
Cake and Pastry Flour: Here in Canada, soft wheat flour is often labelled “Cake and Pastry Flour”. Monarch makes a popular brand of this flour here (look for it in the red checkered bag!). Any soft flour labelled as cake or pastry flour is what you need.
Ground Pork: I prefer an all pork pie, but you can use a mix of pork and beef or basically any combination of meats, as long as they are ground.
Savory: First, as a Canadian, I’m having a hard time typing the name of this herb without a “u” in it :) And yes, savory is an herb, not a spice mix and no, it doesn’t have a “u” in it. This is not a spice you see in many recipes anymore, so you may not have it on hand. If you’ve not needed it until now, you may not want to add a whole bottle to your spice rack. You can omit, if you like (it’s only 1/8 of a tsp) or a pinch of marjoram would be a decent substitute. If you do have it on hand, you may have ground savory or something labelled Summer Savory, which is generally more coarse leaves. The 1/8 tsp measurement is almost surely meant to be ground savory, so if you only have the more coarse version, use a bit more.
Bread Crusts: This is simply fresh bread crumbs really, but using the crusts so it’s not mushy. The crust off any fresh bread is fine here. I wouldn’t recommend dry bread crumbs, as they won’t behave the same way in the filling. You can “crumble” in a food processor, if you prefer.
Recipe Tips
The pastry recipe here is pretty much the “back of the box”, Tenderflake™ lard pastry recipe. The only problem is that the full recipe makes enough for three 2-crust pies. Doing this recipe for 3 pies seemed a little excessive, so I’ve cut it down to two. So you will have excess pastry here. It’s just not easy to scale the pastry recipe down and it calls for 1 egg and 1/3 of an egg is tricky business, especially when it comes to pastry. Certainly if you’d like 3 pies, simply scale the filling recipe up to make enough filling for 3 pies.
Cloves are a common addition to Tourtière, but I’m not fond of them in this pie myself. If you are a clove lover, you can certainly add a pinch to the mix. Other warm spices such as cinnamon and allspice are also sometimes found in Tourtière, if you feel you’d like that addition. Don’t get too carried away though, as you are aiming for subtle flavours and nothing that over-powers.
Be sure your pork mixture is cooled before adding to your pastry, or it may start the pastry cooking, or at least warm it too much. I like to make the filling early in the day and refrigerate, then assemble the pies later in the day, to bake fresh for dinner.
Top Tip
For the flakiest lard pastry, keep your pastry cold. Work quickly when assembling if you can and if you feel it’s warmed up too much, you can pop the assembled pie in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before popping in the oven.
How to Serve Tortière
To serve your Tourtière, you can offer an assortment of condiments such as ketchup or chili sauce. I love mustard, whether regular, honey mustard or grainy mustard. I find it balances the richness of the pie really nicely. Some suggest pickles or something like pickled beets or quick pickled vegetables, for the same reason. I don’t think you need to fuss with a side dish for a Tourtière. I usually go just with a salad of some sort.
How to Freeze Your Tourtière
For best results, freeze your Tourtière after assembling and before baking. When ready to enjoy, cook from frozen, brushing the top with the egg wash before putting it in the oven. Baking time will be a longer from frozen.
Cooked tourtière may be frozen for 4 months or so. There is no need for it to be thawed before reheating. To reheat, cover your frozen Tourtière loosely with foil and place in a 350F oven. Bake until a knife inserted in the centre is hot when you test it.
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Ingredients
Meat Filling (for 2 pies):
- 2 lb ground pork
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoons dried sage leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon savory, or marjoram or omit
- 1 cup water
- Crust from 4 or 5 slices of bread, crumbled
Pastry (see Notes):
- 1 lb lard
- 5 1/2 cups cake and pastry flour
- 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- Water, as needed
For brushing before baking:
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Prepare the filling: Mix all of the filling ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the meat is no longer pink. Do not brown the meat. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Crumble bread crusts into mixture and stir until absorbed into the mixture. Remove mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled before using.
- Make the pastry: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Cut in the lard with a pastry blender or two knives until the lard is incorporated. In a one cup measuring cup, beat together the egg and vinegar, then add enough water to the measuring cup until it measures 1 cup. Add this mixture to the flour mixture, adding about 2/3 of it at first, stirring, then adding just as much more as is needed to make a moist dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400F. (regular bake setting/not fan assisted)
- Take out 1 piece of dough and place onto a well-floured work surface. Roll dough into a circle large enough for a 9-inch pie plate. *Note: You will have plenty of dough. Roll to the desired thickness and trim off the excess. Place in bottom of pie plate. Add 1/2 of the meat filling. Roll another piece of dough large enough to cover. Pinch or use a fork to seal the edges together around the outside. Repeat with two more pieces of dough and the rest of the meat filling to make 2 pies. *Your excess dough can be refrigerated or frozen for another time and purpose, if you like.
- Mix an egg with 1 Tbsp of water and generously brush the tops of the pies. Cut a few slits in the middle to allow the steam to escape.
- Place in preheated oven (*If using glass pie plates, reduce the oven to 375F once the pies are placed in the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes), otherwise, bake at 400F for 35-40 minutes, or until golden. If at any time you think your pastry may over-brown, simply lay a sheet of aluminum foil over-top for the last part of baking.
- Serve warm.
Notes
More French-Canadian Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I came upon this recipe and was so glad because the flavors and crust are superb.
Thanks!
Tourtiere has always been my favourite Christmas tradition. In my family we make it with moose, deer, rabbit, lamb, and beef.
Recently the kids brought over some goodies to bake from M+M’s. Not generally fussy about their products but these small tourtieres were not bad. Gave me the idea that I could do this at home using (likely half) your recipe with lard pastry and make a freezer treat for the Xmas season to have on hand. Only the two of us now so little point in making large pies but mini ones would be perfect.
Love your sausage rolls and making them again shortly as well.
Many Thanks and All the Best for 2024!
Hi Holly and I love the idea of mini tourtieres! So glad you are enjoying the sausage rolls. I love having then on hand for a quick lunch or dinner. Thanks so much and hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season :)
Have you ever used old fashioned oats instead of potatoes. . I did and it came out great. Yours is also fantastic
Hi Laurie and thanks! I have not tried this with oats, but I’ve seen people use oats in tortiere. How much did you use?
Like you I’m not fussy for.cloves. I made this tourtiere last year and it was so delicious I’m making it again this year. Followed the recipe exactly as written except I used one pound of hamburg and one pound of pork. We all loved it. Thanks for posting this recipe.
I’m so glad you are enjoying it, Sylvie :) Thanks so much!
I use ground pork for my tourtiere. I prefer this to beef, but today I cooked my meet and it is dry. What can I add in the way of fat to help. I used lean ground pork
because that is the only kind they had at the grocery store. Help
Hi Muriel, I have heard of adding a bit of baking soda, probably mixed with a bit of water. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but you might find some info by searching it out.
I have been making tortierre now for almost 60 years.
I pretty much stick to my mother’s recipe, consisting of half pork, half beef. Mashed potatoes, cinnimon, all spice and cloves. I also always made my crusts with Tenderflake lard,,,its really a no fail recipe,,,,right on the box, but I have to confess, the last couple of years., I have bought store made Tenderflake pie crusts.
Now that I’m 80, I’ve gotten a bit lax, but they are still made with Tenderflake.
Whatever recipe and method you use, if your family and friends like them, then its the right one for you.
I have tried to change the recipe through the years, but keep going back to my mothers. If its not broken,,don’t fix it.
Coming from a French Canadian family, they were always a great at Chtistmas,,,everyone looked forward to them.
Hi Zita and I couldn’t agree more :) This is the recipe I grew up with, so it will always be Tourtière to me :) Have a wonderful Christmas!
Your recipe is how I make mine. Love the flavors of the cinnamon and cloves in the pie.
Hi, I am so glad I found your recipe. I’ve been gifted with tourtiere before and each one is spiced differently. I’m not crazy with clove, allspice combo, so your recipe sounds intriguing enough for me to try and make it myself. I will buy pre-made pie shells as I can’t make a crust to save my soul. Looking forward to trying my luck with your recipe.
I hope you enjoy it, Freyda. It’s lighter on the spices. Just enough, in my opinion. It’s great with a mustard of some sort. And I generally can’t make a crust to save my soul, but I made out ok with this one, if you’re feeling ambitious :)