How to Make Tourtière with Puff Pastry
Tourtière is a traditional French Canadian meat pie. Often served at Christmas, it is a blend of ground meats (usually pork, beef and wild game) with potatoes and savoury spices that include cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves or allspice all encased in a buttery pastry crust. There are as many variations to tourtière as there are French Canadian families.
While we don’t have French Canadian heritage, we’ve created our own family recipe to celebrate Festival du Voyageur, a celebration of Manitoba’s Francophone community and history. Our version is made with a blend of pork, beef, chicken, mushrooms and potatoes wrapped inside a puff pastry crust.
Recipe for Tourtière with Puff Pastry
Tourtière with Puff Pastry Crust
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb ground chicken
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp sage or thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 med russet potato, shredded
- 1 lb (454 g) frozen puff pastry
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
Meat Filling
- Heat large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and heat. Add ground beef, pork and chicken and sauté until browned, 7-10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add onions, mushrooms and garlic to pan and cook until transparent and soft, 3-5 minutes.
- Add spices and let cook til fragrant, 1 minute.
- Deglaze pan with wine. Stir in beef stock and Worcestershire sauce.
- Add shredded potatoes and cook until potatoes are soft and mixture thickens, 10-12 minutes. The filling should be sticky with no remaining liquid.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove from heat and cool. Can be prepared a day ahead.
Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and cut a large piece of parchment paper to fit a large sheet pan. Or use silicone mat for sheet pan.
- Place cut parchment on counter and roll out one thawed puff pastry layer to form a 10"x13" rectangle. Transfer parchment with pastry to sheet pan.
- Add cold meat filling to top of puff pastry leaving a one inch border around the outer edge. Press to pile meat filling in space. Lightly wet outer edge of pastry with water all around.
- On floured surface, roll out second piece of puff pastry to be slightly bigger than first piece. Gently roll on floured rolling pin and transfer to position on top of meat. Pinch together edges and flute for decorative effect if desired.
- Score one inch diagonal lines across top of pastry making a couple of slits to allow steam to escape.
- In small dish, gently beat egg with water. Using a soft bristle brush, brush a thin, even layer of egg wash over top of puff pastry.
- Place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown on top.
Notes
The Tourtière Filling
The Meat
The filling for our meat pie is a mix of ground pork, beef and chicken. Using a variety of meat adds extra texture and flavour to the pie. Use whatever meat you have, it’s what early French Canadians would have done!
The Veggies
Onions and potatoes are classic veggies found in tourtière. The onions add great flavour while the potatoes provide a source of starch to soak up moisture and hold the pie together. They also add extra filling. Your best bet is a nice starchy potato variety like a russet. You can add mashed, cubed or shredded potatoes. I like shredded russets because they cook up fairly quickly.
We also add mushrooms for extra flavour and filling.
If you want, you could add other vegetables to make a filling that suits your personal preferences.
The Seasoning
The mushrooms, onions, garlic, wine, Worcestershire and beef broth all add great umami flavour to the filling.
And then there’s the classic tourtière spices which include some combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves or allspice. It’s these spices that make this dish different than any other meat pie.
The Pastry
A traditional approach would be to use a classic lard pie pastry formed in a round pie shape. I chose to play a little with my pastry and make different shapes. My favourite is using puff pastry in a large rectangle on a sheet pan. I like that it’s easy, flaky, tasty and quite pretty for a meat pie! Maybe one day, I’ll make a round one.
Meat pie is not a light meal, but once a year, we say HeHo and join in the celebration of the French Canadian community.
Will you try making tourtière? Are you planning any modifications for your family? Let me know if you make it, just leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram at #getgettys or Facebook @GettyStewart.HomeEconomist. I’d love to see or hear about your version.
Sign up to get articles by Getty delivered to your inbox. You’ll get recipes, practical tips and great food information like this. Getty is a Professional Home Economist,  speaker and writer putting good food on tables and agendas.  She is the author of Manitoba’s best-selling Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, a mom and veggie gardener.