Dec. 14, 2011 - Issue #843: New Year’s Eve Style
Provenance
Six facts about tourtière
The French-Canadian Christmas miracle
/ J. Annie Wang (cc)
Tourtière is a meat pie enjoyed in Quebec and in some New England states. It is traditionally made with ground pork, but can be made with beef, wild game or a mix of the three. In areas where seafood is plentiful, it can even be made with fish.
Plus your mother's
Though there are plenty of regional variations—the well-known cookbook A Taste of Quebec has 13 versions—tourtières can be divided into two main groups: the most widely known is the version with ground meat, but the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean version is much bigger, cooked in a deep dish and made up of potatoes and a mix of meats cut into cubes.
Hot pot
The word "tourtière" comes from 17th-century France where it referred to the pot that it would be cooked in. The pot had a recessed lid and feet so it could be placed directly onto the fire's hot coals while more hot coals could be placed upon it. The pot would then be brought directly to the table and food would be served directly from it.
Late-night snack
Traditionally, tourtière is enjoyed by French-Canadian families as part of the réveillon—the giant feast—which precedes Christmas or New Year's Day, though it is available all year round.
Odds and ends
Originally, tourtière was a good way to use up leftover meat—in the same way English Canadians might make a shepherd's pie—but, over time, it became a delicacy created especially for the Christmas season.
Pronounced "catsup"
Soy sauce, green tomato relish, pickled beats and mustard—all have been used as accompaniments, but everyone knows that ketchup is the traditional condiment for tourtière. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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