Happy Pi Day: Tourtière

Happy π Day!

Given this year is a special pi year (if you don't know, look at the number below and you'll see it), it only made sense to join in this roundly delicious celebration.

How better to celebrate 3.141592653 (et cetera) in the land of math and physics geniuses than with a very Canadian pie? I thought of butter tarts (which are just little pies), flapper pie and bumbleberry pie but I wanted something savoury. To my mind, the quintessential Canadian savoury pie is “tourtière,” the Quebecois meat pie, traditionally eaten over the Christmas-New Year season.

Tourtière falls within the millennia-old tradition of pie-making, with distant ancestors traced to ancient Egypt and Sumeria. The Romans helped spread pie-making throughout their empire, and soldiers returned from the Crusades with Middle Eastern pies.  European explorers, missionaries and colonists continued to spread pie-making traditions throughout the world.

Regional variations mean it’s difficult to declare an “authentic tourtière.” General agreement among Quebeckers seems to end with the point that tourtières are double-crusted savoury pies.  The pies can be: 

• Made in shallow pie tins or deep cast iron pots

• Fish pies or meat pies, with or without veg or grains

• Filled with one or several meats

• Made with ground or diced meat

So why do I think tourtière is quintessentially Canadian?

• According to Chef Richard Bergeron, 17^th Century France provided the pie's five essential seasonings--allspice, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and pepper.

• Quebec food journalist Julian Armstrong found British influences in ingredients rolled oats (Scottish) and potatoes (Irish), and form (the deep dish sea-pies from the 18^th Century British Navy).

• It takes advantage of regional ingredients such as pork, game, veal and/or beef; coastal variations can use fish.

• While purists may decry modern interpretations, some newer recipes use ingredients that indicate the diversity of Canadian tastes such as meatless fillings and chicken or include garlic or soy sauce.

Click here to listen to Bergeron and Armstrong talk tourtières on the CBC. 

This straightforward recipe is very much like the first tourtière I tried -- a rich ground pork pie and lightly spiced.  Served with a dollop of HP sauce, buttery peas and creamy mash, it makes a delicious winter's meal.  And that's not an irrational declaration.


Tourtière
Adapted from a recipe by Julian Armstrong

Yield 1 23cm (9") pie

Ingredients
600g / 1.33lb minced regular pork (see notes)
190ml /0.75c cold water
125ml / 0.5c finely chopped onion (approximately 1/2 a medium onion)
62ml / 0.25c finely chopped celery (approximately 1/2 a rib)
1 bay leaf
0.5tsp / 2.5ml pepper
0.5tsp / 2.5ml dried summer savory (see notes)
0.25tsp / 1.25ml dried rosemary
0.25tsp / 1.25ml nutmeg
0.25tsp / 1.25ml cinnamon
0.25tsp / 1.25ml allspice
Salt, to taste
25g / 60ml / 0.25c rolled oats

Pastry for one 23cm (9") double-crust pie (see notes)

1 beaten egg

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, combine water with pork and bring to a boil.

Add onion, celery, herbs and spices (except for salt).  Cover and cook over a medium-low flame for about 30 minutes, stirring often.  Add more water, if the mixture begins to dry.

Taste the mixture, and add salt, to taste. Stir in the oats, cover and continue to cook (still stirring often). Remove bay leaf and let the mixture cool.

Preheat oven to 210C/425F

Line the pie tin with pastry.  Evenly spread the filling in the lined tin, brushing the edge with egg. Cover the pie with the top crust, seal the edge.  Trim and crimp.  Cut steam vents, in the usual way, and brush the surface with egg wash.

Bake for 15 minutes. 

Reduce heat to 180C/375F and continue to bake until the crust is golden (approximately 25-35 minutes).

Cool slightly (about 10-15 minutes) before slicing.

To help cut the richness, serve with something sharp such as

• Pickled vegetables (such as jardinière, pickled beets, vinegary coleslaw)
• Sauce (such as cranberry sauce, HP, chowchow)

Notes:

• Regular pork adds a richness to the pie that lean pork lacks.  If you prefer lean pork, by all means use it.
•  If you can't find summer savory, substitute with winter savory or thyme.
•  I prefer meat pies with a savoury flakey crust, but a shortcrust would work as well.
• This recipe should convert easily to handpies or individual pot pies.

cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!

Happy Pi Day! Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Coconut Crust

Happy Pi Day! As many of you know, I'm from Kitchener-Waterloo…home of the University of Waterloo and its renowned maths, engineering and computer science faculties, The Perimeter Institute, and one of North America's fertile tech hubs…so pi day can take on a slightly different feel than in other areas.

Much to my parents' regret, the maths and sciences genes swerved by me, leaving me more interested in pie than pi.  That said, I've been known to watch documentaries and attend lectures about physics, stats and math. And of course a good percentage of my working life--both corporate and as an independent consultant is spent with maths and science inclined colleagues and clients. The numbers part of my brain is alive and well, just happily riding the waves of words, music and art that usually preoccupy my mind.  

I usually let Pi Day pass sans fooferah, but this year, thanks to my unhealthy obsession with all those lovely Buzzfeed quizzes, I found out I am a key lime pie.  That is, the "Which Pie Are You?" quiz offered the following proclamation:

"You're tart and sweet, and so, so creamy.  You think outside the box, which can be your biggest asset.  Nothing's quite as satisfying as your cool graham cracker crust."

Yeah.  That sounds about right.  

But so do the other quizzes I've taken.  I'm Lady Violet, Lizzie Bennett as well as Abigail.  I'm Henry Rollins from Black Flag and I'm Wonder Woman.  I'm so awesome I don't need to give up anything for Lent…especially snickerdoodles.

But back to pie…erhm…pi…erhm…

Needless to say, ever since that pie quiz, key lime pies have been jostling for room in my head.  And it turns out…I happen to have all the ingredients on hand.  Sweetened condensed milk and coconut extract in the pantry, cookie crumbs, coconut and lime juice in the freezer.  The rest --sugar, salt, butter and eggs are almost in use.

The filling is a pretty standard, unfettered key lime pie filling.  The crust is a result of a bit of kitchen playing.  Together they create a rather easy and lovely pie. The only caveat I can offer is that it does take a full workday to set, so make it the night before or the morning of to ensure the filling is properly cooled and set.

Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Coconut Crust

Yield one 9" (23cm) pie.

Ingredients

For the crust

150g/300ml/1.25c less 2tsp chocolate wafer crumbs

55g/165ml/0.66c unsweetened desiccated coconut

20ml/2dspn/4tsp sugar

1pinch salt

40g/45ml/3Tbsp butter, melted

1tsp/5ml coconut extract

For the filling

375g/14oz/300ml/1.25c less 2tsp sweetened condensed milk (one tin)

4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

150ml/0.5c+1Tbsp+2tsp key lime juice (or regular lime juice)

1 pinch salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

For the crust:

Mix all crust ingredients together.  The texture will be damp sand-like.

Press onto the bottom, and up the sides of a pie tin.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.  

Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack.  

Leave the oven on as you mix the filling.

For the filling:

Mix the tinned milk with the yolks.  Add the juice and salt and mix until smooth.

Pour into cooled crust.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on the counter for about 30 minutes and then set, uncovered, in the fridge for 8 hours.

Garnish, if you must, with sweetened whipped cream.

Note:

If you're squeezing the lime juice yourself, rasp a couple of teaspoons of zest and mix into the filling.

cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!