Meat Pie (Acadian Tourtière Acadienne)

Tourtière might be the most classic of Canadian dishes. Every Franco-Canadian family has its own recipe, whether it lives in Québec, Acadia, Ontario, or even New England. Tourtière is almost always part of the Christmas or New Year's dinner. The word "tourtière" is a generic term for pâté en croute. The classic meat pie usually includes ground pork, veal or beef, and potatoes. That said, there is a wide variety of tourtières. Some include wild game, or even fish. Here is an Acadian version, from New Brunswick.

Pastry:
12 recipes Double Pie Crust
12 egg yolks, beaten with 12 tsp. water, for glazing

Filling:
stewing beef, diced (3.2 kg)
pork, diced, preferably a pork shoulder (2.4 kg)
8 chicken breasts with skin and bones
1 bulb garlic, minced cloves
6 onions, chopped
kosher or sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground

Make the Pastry:
Make the pie dough, wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or even overnight would be great. Roll out the dough and place it in a 9" pie plate; chill in the refrigerator until the filling is ready.

Make the Filling:
In three different pots, place each meat with the onion and garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, lower the temperature and simmer until the meat is tender and cooked (between 40-50 minutes).

Let the three meats rest, each in its own juices. Once lukewarm, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the chicken with a fork.

Mix the three meats with the juice, making sure to incorporate the onions and garlic. Mix well to have a homogeneous mixture of meat in each pie. If there is too much juice, keep it aside as you may need it later (to add to pies).

Assemble the Pies:
Fill the pie shells with the meat mixture (with juice so that they don't dry out) and cover with a pastry top.

To eat the tourtière immediately, put in the oven at 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4) for 30-45 minutes.

To freeze the meat pies, wait until they are cold, and put them in freezer bags (like Ziploc) or use a vacuum sealer. It is important to cook the tourtière from frozen, and not to defrost before cooking. Bake for about an hour.

Makes 12 pies.