Well, my tourtières and cretons are all done. I simmered the pork all afternoon. When my son got home from college, the first thing he did as he came through the door was sniff in appreciation of the aroma wafting through the house. They smelled so good that even my non-Franco daughter-in-law tried some today!

Tourtières and cretons have graced French Canadian holiday tables for a very long time. If you’re on a diet, you may not even want to enter the same room they’re in … the savory delights are very fattening.

They’re also very rich. When I small, I remember visiting with a Dominican Brother on Christmas Eve. My parents dressed us all up, and we went to bring him a bit of holiday cheer. While we were there, he told us about some poor fellow in the parish who had eaten so much toutière earlier in the day that he’d gotten sick and died! *boggle!* Frenchmen really like their tourtières, but that might have been a case of carrying things just a bit too far …

If you look at the picture above, the “toutière” is the pie in the center of picture, and the cup just above the pie is the cretons. Tourtière is a traditional pork pie - and cretons is a pork spread for use on crackers, toast, etc..

1 pound of ground pork
2 medium onions
salt and pepper to taste

Chop (not mince) the onions finely. Mix the onions and pork, add the salt and pepper. Cover meat with water, and simmer slowly until there is barely any water left. This could take a while, depending on your stove. (Count on at least 2 hours … best if even more.)

Once there’s hardly any water left, add the following spices:

1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 of a teaspoon of cloves
1/2 of a teaspoon of nutmeg

Stir carefully. Continue cooking until the meat looks wet, the bottom isn’t sticking, but the water really is almost all cooked out. Let the meat spread cool off until it can be poured into an attractive container without breaking it. Refrigerate. The meat will set up firmly.

Before serving, garnish with dill or parsely and a few cranberries. Serve with crackers or toast.

Pastry for 2 crusts - 8 inches

1 lb ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch
1 clove of garlic
1 medium potato

Mix all of the ingredients, and simmer slowly. The potato and garlic will become soft, and be able to be mashed in with the meat when you’re done.

When the meat has been simmering long enough for everything to be soft, and for the liquid to be almost completely gone (could be more than 2 hours,) add the following spices to the meat:

3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of cloves
1/3 teaspoon of nutmeg

(You can adjust the spices to your own tastes … I always make mine a bit spicier.)

Stir it all in together. Once the water is just about completely gone, and the meat looks a bit like a meaty pudding, pour it into your already rolled out pie dough. Assemble the pie by putting the top crust on, and fluting the edges. Bake for between 40 minutes to 1 hour at 350 degrees. You’re only trying to get the dough cooked through … since the meat is already done. You want to take the pie out when the dough is cooked - and a nice golden brown.

Tourtières can be served warm or cold. Some people like their tourtière with ketchup (ewww! ;) …

Posted: Thursday, December 22nd, 2005 at 10:26 pm under: Vittles. Comment Feed (RSS 2.0). Interact: Comment or Trackback.