The Lac-Saint-Jean tourtière is a different animal from the thin Montreal pie: a deep roasting pan of cubed meats and potatoes, sealed under pastry and baked low for most of a day. It feeds a crowd, it freezes well, and the crust only works properly with lard.
Ingredients (one large roasting pan, 12 servings)
Filling
- 1 kg (2 lb) pork shoulder, cut in 1 cm cubes
- 1 kg (2 lb) beef chuck, cut in 1 cm cubes
- 500 g (1 lb) game or veal if you have it (moose, deer, hare), cubed; otherwise more pork
- 3 onions, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) salt, 5 ml (1 tsp) pepper
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) each cinnamon, cloves and allspice (optional, some families skip spices entirely)
- 1.5 kg (3 lb) potatoes, peeled and cut in 1 cm cubes
- About 750 ml (3 cups) hot beef or chicken broth
Lard pastry (double batch)
- 1.25 L (5 cups) all-purpose flour
- 10 ml (2 tsp) salt
- 500 ml (2 cups) cold pure lard, cubed
- About 250 ml (1 cup) ice water
Method
- The night before, mix the cubed meats with the onions, garlic, salt, pepper and spices. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Make the pastry. Whisk flour and salt, cut in the cold lard to pea-sized pieces, add ice water gradually until the dough just holds. Divide in two (one piece slightly larger), wrap and chill 30 minutes.
- Line the pan. Roll the larger piece and line a deep 30 x 40 cm roasting pan, letting pastry hang over the edges.
- Fill. Mix the potatoes into the marinated meat. Spread into the pan. Pour in hot broth until it comes just below the top of the filling.
- Seal. Roll the second piece, cover, fold and crimp the edges, cut a 3 cm vent in the centre. Brush with milk.
- Bake at 200 °C (400 °F) for 30 minutes, then lower to 150 °C (300 °F) and bake 5 to 6 hours, until the crust is deep golden and the potatoes are completely tender. If the top browns too fast, cover loosely with foil. Rest 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
Cubes, not ground meat, are what make it Lac-Saint-Jean. For the crust we use Premium Pure Lard, one ingredient, rendered from Canadian pork. Serve with ketchup aux fruits or pickled beets.
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