This post is an encore holiday performance!
The French Canadian Meat Pie, or “tourtière ” is a traditional dish passed down in my family, served on Christmas Eve and other special occasions, but never fear, we can even make it vegan!
The story of my grandparents’ families is shared with hundreds of thousands who immigrated from French Quebec to work in the mills and farms in New England in the decades around 1900. Before that, our ancestors arrived in the 1600s from Brittany, bringing along to Quebec many of the cuisine traditions from there. Food travels the globe before settling on us, and it is all ever-changing. We’ve certainly added New England and Vermont touches to so many things.
My grandmother, Dolora Martel, “Mémé,”was only four when she arrived from Quebec. Alfred LaFlamme, my grandfather, “Pépé, was born in this country, son of a day laborer, also new to our shores from Quebec. They raised 10 children and eventually settled in the Brattleboro, VT, area, where I probably have more cousins than I can count. Throughout their lives, they remained in contact with their families on Ile d’Orleans, where I also have scores of relatives to this day. If your last name is LaFlamme or Martel, we are probably cousins of some sort. Welcome to the family.
Food stories
They brought their food stories with them, a cuisine that evolved in the colder climate of Quebec and New England: lots of pork, rabbit and other wild game, hearty stews and soups, corn in every form, yeast breads, and pickles. Of course apple, plum, and berry everything, custards, fruit galettes and sweet maple pies and butter tarts. No one was afraid of butter or flour or fat, and every scrap of food they hunted, raised, or gathered was used, nothing wasted.
Warm spices in a cold land
Spices in sweet and savory dishes included cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, cardamom, and nutmeg, liberally used, along with maple and molasses. Meals were slow-cooked, hearty, full of carbohydrates and fat. It fed large families and hard workers who burned every calorie. What wasn’t served up fresh was cured, salted, canned, dried, smoked, and pickled to preserve for the rest of the year.
Comfort food
Of course, one of the reasons many of these dishes survived is because they are pure comfort food and taste really good! I learned to cook them the way my mother did, by watching someone else. Often, there was no written recipe, just a technique, so the passing on of this information was an intimate experience that created memories as well as skill.
The holidays
Many of the special dishes were tied to Catholic religious holidays. Bountiful Christmas Eve feasts are what those food memories are made of, and two recipes in particular stand out all these years later: a rich, savory meat pie called “tourtière,” and the beautifully elaborate “Bûche de Noël” a rolled sponge cake, sprinkled with brandy, and decorated as a Yule log with chocolate frosting, meringue “mushrooms,” piped holly leaves, and cinnamon candy berries, the favorite of the children in the house.
I make both of these dishes most years, but, of course, I have added my own little twists to the original. My mother made the Bûche de Noël filled with homemade blackberry jam, and sometimes I still do because I love blackberries. But I like it filled with whipped cream, too, and I always frost mine with whipped chocolate ganache– it’s not quite as sweet and it pure chocolate delight.
The flexible tourtière
The tourtière was made with ground meat, pork or pork and beef, with potatoes and cracker crumbs, baked in a flaky lard pastry. It was served dripping with brown gravy. Every family had their own version and spice mix, and sometimes more than one – our larger family has three or four, including one with cheddar cheese on top!
The preparation of the meat pie is a bit peculiar; you boil the meat for nearly an hour! This changes the texture and extracts all the fat, allowing you to leave only what you want in the final dish. The ground pork included less important pieces of the pig, another way to make use of all scraps, even for holiday food. The dish was sometimes made with a meat-and-cracker filling, no vegetables.
Everyone has a recipe
You can use any type of ground meat, including turkey and chicken, just don’t mention it to one of the old guard! I created a version using soy sausage and a gluten-free crust, topped off with wild mushroom gravy that pleases everyone from meat eaters to vegetarians. My niece Keri loves this one!
Family food tells the bigger family history, and offers a sense of connection with the generations. Along the way, the recipes evolve, the essence of the original enhanced to reflect the time we live in. But, make no mistake, even with the modifications, it is still Mémé’s tourtiere!
How I make it now
There are two versions I make for my family; vegan is easy here, just substitute your favorite ‘ground meat-free’ product. For the larger family, I have substituted local ground turkey sausage for the usual beef and pork, but if you eat red meat, you may use it here, or substitute a soy sausage; there are many options for locally raised, sustainable meats where we live, so I feel fortunate. Of course, when my grandmother made a tourtière, she used the most sustainable meat possible, that which was raised on her own property and fed with grain they grew.
I’ve also made it with ground soy product and it tastes pretty much the same! In fact, one meat-eater grabbing seconds didn’t realize he had served himself from my vegetarian pie, and I didn’t tell! This is Mémé’s “good times” version because it uses potatoes rather than just crackers. It makes two bountiful pies, and they freeze well.
Mémé’s Good Times Tourtière
- One large white onion, diced
- 2 ribs celery, minced
- 1 tbsp. duck fat or olive oil
- 2 pounds ground Vermont turkey, or meat-free substitute
- 1 ½ pounds fresh Vermont turkey or pork sausage, or meat-free sausage
- 1 tbsp. poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp. dried sage, or 2 tbsp. fresh, minced
- 1 tsp. each ground cinnamon and ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 tsp. hot Hungarian paprika (my addition!)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 large bay leaf
- Chicken or mushroom stock or water to almost cover, about two cups
- One sleeve Ritz or butter crackers smashed into crumbs
- 2 cups diced potatoes, partially cooked but still a bit firm
- 2 double pie crust recipes (total four crusts)
- Egg wash
Saute the onion and celery in the duck fat in a large pan. Add the ground turkey, sausage, spices, and enough stock to just cover with bits poking their heads up. You can also use just plain water here, that’s what my grandmother used, but I think the stock adds a little more flavor.
This is the strange part, but necessary, the meat must be boiled: bring to a boil, cover, reduce, and slow cook on low heat, covered, about an hour, stirring now and then. (Note: if using soy alternative, only boil for about 15 minutes or so). The house will smell like Christmas Eve!
Remove the lid, stir, and remove some of the fat and liquid that has accumulated. Add crackers and potatoes. Stir well, and spoon back a little of the liquid if need be. The mixture should be very soft and moist, but with no visible pools of liquid.
Cool the mixture. When cool, pour into two prepared bottom crusts and make smooth. Add the top crusts, and always a little pastry decoration. This is, after all, holiday food, so it should look as pretty as it tastes. I like to decorate with little leaves made from the pastry trimmings.
Brush all with an egg wash made of an exquisite organic egg and a little cold water and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes. It should be golden brown! Check when the house starts to smell really good. It will let you know when it is ready.
Let set at least 20 minutes before cutting, a half hour is better. Traditionally, this was served with a brown gravy, but it’s much better with a mushroom gravy on the side.
Wild Mushroom Gravy
Bring two cups of water to a boil and add a handful of dried porcini or other dried mushrooms. (I use wild maitake mushrooms I dehydrate in my oven, but you can use any dried variety, it’s all good). Set aside for a half hour. Drain, reserving the liquid, and chop up the rehydrated mushrooms.
Sauté 10 ounces of fresh mushrooms, whatever you like, in a tablespoon of butter or vegan butter with a splash of olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle in a little thyme. Add the rehydrated mushrooms, a little more butter, and a quarter cup of all-purpose flour. Mix well and deglaze with a big splash of white wine. Let this cook off. Slowly add the reserved liquid (the very bottom of the bowl may contain grit so pour really slowly at the end). Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until thick.
Note: Check the dried mushroom package; many are being imported from China and are priced cheap. Because of obvious issues of quality control, you don’t want these!
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How delightful! Even living in Australia have oft made this for Christmas for over half a century! Must try your way because all my recipes use pork and veal . . . i also use more sage . . . . I/m not much ‘into’ potatoes but their correct usage here to act almost as glu is very important1 Enjoy and have a healthy happy Yule!!!
Thank you!
The potatoes add a little much needed texture to these very rich pies. I think they can be a little too, well, meaty without them.
Happiest of holidays!
What a lovely story, Dorothy. I wish you a fabulous and delicious end and beginning. Auguri! Xx
Thanks so much! Best wishes for a happy holiday to you too!
I can’t decide whether I like your recipe or story more, Dorothy! 😊 Meat pies like this have always been a part of our family heritage (nothing as glamorous as French/Canadian heritage, though): my Lancashire granny made an amazing meat and potato pie, usually with beef and always served with pickled red cabbage from the garden, while on the Shropshire side it was the traditional ‘fidget pie’ filled with bacon, potatoes, onions and cooking apples. As pastry is something I’ve always been able to make (don’t ever ask me to make a sponge cake!!!! 😂), savoury pies are a favourite family meal and wonderful crowd pleasers. The story of your family is lovely and what an uncanny resemblance you have to your grandmother! Wishing you the happiest and tastiest of Christmas holidays. 🥰
Thank you so much Liz! There are a couple of photos of my grandmother that I could swear are me!
All these family histories are amazing, think of the bravery it took for our ancestors to battle an unfriendly ocean, leave their homes and families, and come to a new land to make a better life for their children.
They always brought their food and customs, and we still celebrate them in that respect today!
I never heard of fidget pie! What a great name and memory!
Fidget pie is pretty delicious, too ~ real autumn comfort food, especially followed by a dessert made from damsons which are another typical product of the county. Yes, I am fascinated by family stories and I think it’s wonderful when recipes or handcrafting traditions have been passed down through generations, what incredible skills and knowledge they had. One of my paternal great-grandfathers was born in Indiana, his parents having emigrated from the ‘Old Country’ some years earlier; his father was a collier working along the Ohio river and I have a wonderful letter sent back to family in Lancashire describing their new life ~ the children cracking hickory nuts, the meat they could now afford to put on the table. Sadly, his mother died giving birth to their fifth child and so his father brought the family back to England . . . if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here (!!!) but I do feel a sense of sadness that things turned out for them that way after taking such a brave step. There is still a branch of the family in the Boonville area so I have distant American cousins, although I’ve never met them.
What a soulful story Lis! The story shared by so many others I’m afraid. Sometimes the dream only lasted a time, sometimes it never was fulfilled at all. And what a heavy heart it must have been for your ancestors to have to move back!
But here you are, with your own additions to the bigger story!
I made this last year and it was fabulous! Merry Christmas! PS your hair is beautiful.
Oh thank you my friend!
I kind of like that I’ve always resembled my grandmother, I think my mom liked it too!
We have a small local bakery and cafe in town, Harvey’s. They have been in business for 90 years, and one of their draws is their meat pies. 🙂 Yours looks delicious. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Thank you Judy! Hope your holiday is as beautiful as the sunrise I’m watching right now!
I love hearing about your history! And how you resemble your grandmother!
I have not had meat pies except for the little meat pies that my grandmother made for my grandfather and packed them in his lunch. Later, she just made them because they were so good. They resembled a Pasty.
It all sounds delicious!
Merry Christmas, dear Dorothy, to you and yours!
Thank you Nancy! I think every culture has some kind of meat pie in various forms, and they all have lovely little memories attached!
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I love reading about the history behind a recipe..my mother was the pie maker but never for Christmas always a midweek meal. Your tourtière looks and sounds delicious, Dorothy made better by the memories it invokes…Merry Christmas to you and your family xx
Thank you so much! Have a wonderful holiday Carol. 🌲🍸🎶
I enjoyed reading about your family history and the history of the Tourtiere. I’m sure it’s delicious either way you make it, and it certainly looks beautiful and delicious! Have a very Merry Christmas Dorothy!
Jenna
Thank you Jenna, you have a beautiful and merry Christmas as well!
Everything about this is beautiful, Dorothy! I’d give anything to be able to make a pastry as pretty as yours. And that picture of your grandmother! I can 100% see the family resemblance. 😊 Merry Christmas, my friend!
Thank you so much my friend! I’ve learned not to be afraid of pastry dough over the years, especially since I usually make it in the food processor now!
My mom’s was even better, but she used lard!
Your family’s history is so beautifully entangled with this tasty recipe. Love the idea of mushroom gravy!
Your story was so fascinating, D! I’m sure you’ve heard this many times before but, judging by these photos, you are a clone of your grandmother! Family feasts and traditions are the greatest. Merry Christmas to you, my friend! 🌟
Thanks N.! I have some photos of her that I swear are me!
I believe it, D!
Family traditions are so important and this one looks like a beautiful one to preserve.
It’s fun and it’s family! Who could ask for more?
I love the stories that go with your recipes! You look so much like your Grandmother, she was gorgeous and so are you! Have a wonderful Christmas Dorothy!
Ah thanks Jan! I take that as the loveliest of compliments since she was a beautiful person!
I loved this story about your family–that is my favorite part! The photo of your grandmother reminds me of my own grandmother–the glasses, the hairdo, and of course, those pumps! She could have been sitting on the porch steps in Elbert, Texas…only probably hotter weather!
Love it all! She definitely brought out the chord for the photo!
One look at that golden crust and my knees go weak. I need to sit down. Oh look, Dorothy. I found an empty seat at your table. 👀🍃
Yes, my dear friend, I knew it was you! Welcome!
Thanks for the “open door” invitation. 🍃💜
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A beautiful family tradition and a scrumptious looking meat pie! Cheers to your French Candian heritage and mine too! And yes, you look like your sweet grandmother!
Thank you so much! I am proud to carry her traditions snd her resemblance!
Such a lovely tradition. You look so much like your grandmother.
Thank you! Yes, I got lots of my grandmothers genes for sure!
your family history is so interesting Dorothy. I am fascinated with the boiling of the meat. Do you add liquid or just throw the meat in the pan? Merry christmas to you.
You add stock or water just to cover, and keep an eye on it during the cooking.
Merry Christmas!
How great that you are carrying on the family tradition, and developing it further for modern day tastes 🙂
Thank you Kevin!
Hi, Dorothy – I love tourtière but have never been brave enough to make it myself. Thank you for sharing your recipe – and for including a meat-free version.
You’re very welcome! You should definitely give it a try!
This looks amazing! I love savory pies–all kinds. Cheers!
Thank you! They are a crowd pleaser that’s for sure.
Meat pies make such a great and hearty winter meal! What a nice tradition to have for Christmas Eve!
Thank you Nancy. These really are a hearty meal!
I love savory pies!
This one has a special place in my heart!
Hello,
Have you ever research your family genealogy? My late mother is a Laflamme and her first ancestors were established at St-François, L’Ile d’Orléans, Québec. You and I might distant cousins.
Hi cousin! If you are a laflamme from L’ile d’Orleans we are indeed related. Yes, I have researched the tree back to Brittany early 1600s. First relative in Quebec, Francois Quemeneur dit Laflamme.
Have you researched your tree Rolland?