French Canadian Meat Pie: Tourtière (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between meat pie and tourtière? ›

Meat pie is primarily made of ground meat (pork, beef or veal) and aromatics (onion, garlic, spices, etc.). In Saguenay–Lac‑Saint‑Jean and Charlevoix, however, “real” tourtière is a lot heartier than meat pie and contains other meats (such as game) and potatoes that have been simmered in stock.

What's in tourtiere? The French-influenced pie is often made with pork, veal, beef, or game and sometimes a combination of the two. Mashed potatoes are folded in to help bind the meat, while celery and onion are other common aromatics. The spices give the pie character, such as allspice, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.

It is a traditional part of the Christmas réveillon and New Year's Eve meal in Quebec. It is also popular in New Brunswick, and is sold in grocery stores across the rest of Canada all year long.

In Canada, it's called tourtiere. Made with potatoes, pork, beef and spices, and wrapped in a light and flaky crust. It's fully cooked and ready to simply warm and serve for a delicious gourmet meal in minutes. Each Meat Pie weighs, 35 oz.

Traditionally, Tourtière is served with roasted vegetables or a light frisseé salad. An assortment of pickled foods is always delicious; pickled beets, spicy carrots, gherkins or pickled onions. Many enjoy a tomato-based chutney but most… just break out the ketchup.

Tourtiere is a traditional part of the Christmas and New Year's Eve meal in Quebec. While typically made of pork and beef, Tourtiere can be made of other meats, such as chicken, venison, rabbit, or any other type of game. Some recipes have more potatoes than breadcrumbs, some have just potatoes.

A pot pie, in US and Canadian dialects, is a type of meat pie with a top pie crust that is commonly used throughout the continent, consisting of flaky pastry.

Tourtière is Quebec's fattier, gamier and, arguably, tastier answer to the English minced meat pie. Spices, potatoes and a variety of meats, sometimes including wild game like moose or hare, are packed in a tender golden pie crust.

It could be cranberry sauce, pickled beets, something sweet and sour, or "something with a kick to it to pair with the spiced meat and flaky crust." (I like to serve a chili sauce with my tourtiere; you can find Naylor's recipe and my chili sauce recipe below.) All in all, it's a memorable dish.

What do French Canadians eat on Christmas Eve? ›

The main focus of the traditional réveillon was the food. The menu varied from family to family, but common dishes included tourtière (a meat pie made with pork and beef or veal), ragoût de boulettes (meatballs in brown gravy), les pattes de porc (pigs' feet cooked slowly until incredibly tender), and potatoes.

Tourtière was always on the table, and in 17-century Québec, the pie was traditionally served in a cast-iron cauldron and stuffed with cubed meats, often wild game (rabbit, pheasant, or moose). Four centuries later, the pie remains a staple dish both at réveillon and in Québécois households.

The first pies, called “coffins” or “coffyns” were savoury meat pies with the crusts or pastry being tall, straight-sided with sealed-on floors and lids. Open-crust pastry (without tops or lids) were known as “traps.” Historians believe that the Greeks actually originated pie pastry.

The main difference between pie and tart is that a pie is covered on top with the same dough used to make the crust of the pie (mostly some beautiful, intricate designs). Tart and quiche on the other hand, are open from top. A pie has a pastry top/lid. A quiche does not.