Tourtière

[HitRed]

Ever tasted it?

[DoomYoshi]

Ever tasted it?

Yes.

[2dimes]

Is this one of those things where Canadians don't need to answer.

We had some this year.

[Dukasaur]

In my wife's family, it's mandatory at every social occasion.

[2dimes]

Well, that seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Dukasaur]

I hate the shit. It's dry, it's bland, it's boring. But I politely eat a small slice, and I nod appreciatively when everybody else is raving about how great it is. I'm not capable of being dishonest enough to plausibly say something nice about it, but I am capable of nodding and smiling.

Marriage teaches you things like that.

[mookiemcgee]

I hate the shit. It's dry, it's bland, it's boring. But I politely eat a small slice, and I nod appreciatively when everybody else is raving about how great it is. I'm not capable of being dishonest enough to plausibly say something nice about it, but I am capable of nodding and smiling.

Marriage teaches you things like that.

I'm with you, boring.

[2dimes]

I'll concede it could be bland and boring. Perhaps I'll let you have dry as well later.

If it was dry that seems to me like it might be an error.

Unless you decided it was dry because of the crust stealing the moisture from your throat as you ate it. That is true. Since that does not happen with other pies in the same crust, the tourtière is certainly to blame.

Maybe I'm into it, or all the tourtière I have had was wrong. I did not find it bland or boring. If I did I bet I could find a suitable condiment.

Here's some potential poll options.

I have not tried it.
I have tried it and it's not for me.
I have tried it and It was ok.
I have tried it and I think someone was trying to prank me or perhaps worse.
I have tried it and it's my favorite food.
SCREW YOU 2dimes, IT'S DRY!
I have not tried it but now I might.
I have not tried it and thanks to Dukasaur I won't be making that mistake.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I hate pie.
I hope to be made into tourtière.

[Dukasaur]

I'll concede it could be bland and boring. Perhaps I'll let you have dry as well later.

If it was dry that seems to me like it might be an error.

Unless you decided it was dry because of the crust stealing the moisture from your throat as you ate it. That is true. Since that does not happen with other pies in the same crust, the tourtière is certainly to blame.

Maybe I'm into it, or all the tourtière I have had was wrong. I did not find it bland or boring. If I did I bet I could find a suitable condiment.

Here's some potential poll options.

I have not tried it.
I have tried it and it's not for me.
I have tried it and It was ok.
I have tried it and I think someone was trying to prank me or perhaps worse.
I have tried it and it's my favorite food.
SCREW YOU 2dimes, IT'S DRY!
I have not tried it but now I might.
I have not tried it and thanks to Dukasaur I won't be making that mistake.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I hate pie.
I hope to be made into tourtière.

Excellent! You know, "LOL" gets used a lot when it's not actually true, but in this case I really did LOL for real!

[riskllama]

i used to live above an old lady in an apartment complex & would help her w/her shopping up the stairs & whatnot, and she started baking an extra one for me @ xmas. was never bland, dry or boring. in fact, hers was kind of spicy, actually - quite good, in fact. i looked forward to it.

[jonesthecurl]

Looks just like a pork pie to me. I didn't realise the US was devoid of pork pies until I'd been here about two years, and decided to take the family out for a picnic. "We'll have a nice pork pie" I thought, but I was wrong.
Here's somewhere that sells the classic "Melton Mowbray"... https://www.porkpie.co.uk/

[Dukasaur]

Little know fact about tourtière: Nowadays it's usually made with veal or pork or a veal/pork blend. The original recipe, however, called for passenger pigeon. In fact, the word tourtière means "pigeon pie." As long as people had to hunt their own pigeon that wasn't a problem, but with the 1920s came refrigeration and the supermarket, so the pigeons could be hunted with industrial efficiency. The most populous bird in North America was hunted to extinction in less than two decades once the refrigerator was invented.

http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2007/07/our-national-dish-extinct-pigeon-meat.html

[2dimes]

Plot twist! We couldn't have tasted it after the extinction.

One of my favorite things about Australia was abundant meat pie shops. Awesome! We can get them here but there are not shops with them inexpensive, hot and ready to go.

[jonesthecurl]

Don't Aussies make tiny pies in a parsley sauce? Or is my memory miscueing?

[2dimes]

I don't remember a parsley sauce but it may have been an option. I'm having trouble remembering anything about the pies themselves. I think they had some that seemed like we have here by my standards. I thought they were a nice single serving size but maybe they were like tart sized. Most meat pies here are smaller than fruit pies but you can get fruit pies in small here too.

If I were a billionaire I would offer to fly you there and we could investigate.

I just think it's great to be able to walk up to a counter to grab a meat pie, almost any time you feel like you'd like to eat one.

Here you typically have to find a place that might have them occasionally or by special request. Otherwise you buy frozen ones and re-bake them at home.

[jonesthecurl]

I made a corned eef pie the other day.

[2dimes]

Love corned beef.

Nearly always in a sandwich with just french's mustard.

Corned beef pie sounds good though.

[riskllama]

@2dimes : there's an awesome little stall down at the Currie barracks that sells meat pies. the name escapes me atm, but will look for it for you...

llama = helping

[jonesthecurl]

Love corned beef.

Nearly always in a sandwich with just french's mustard.

Corned beef pie sounds good though.

Always makes me a little wistful - the recipe was from my Aunt Glenys, who died in November.

[riskllama]

corned beef has a recipe? aside from chuck in pot & boil, i mean...

[jonesthecurl]

What the US calls corned beef is a pale imitation. A real corned beef is more like the stuff that comes in a can from Argentina or Brazil. It takes days to make.

Using a whole beef flank,
Trim the beef flank of all visible sinews but leave it as a whole piece. Mix the water and 75 g (3 oz) of salt to create brine. To test the strength of the brine, sit a raw new potato in the water; the potato should float. If it won’t float, simply add the remaining salt, or more if needed. Sit the beef in the brine and chill for 3 days.

Remove the meat from the brine and wash it, discarding the salt water. Sit the meat in a clean pan with the pig’s trotters, if using. Top up with fresh water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2½–3 hours, skimming any impurities from the liquor.

Once cooked, remove the meat from the liquor. Drain the cooking liquor through a fine sieve and taste; it should have a good beef flavour. Discard the trotters. Bring the stock to the boil and boil to reduce in volume, and increase its flavour and jelly content. Test the stock/jelly by spooning on to a small plate and placing in the fridge. The jelly must set very firm to enable it to hold the beef together. If it doesn’t set firm enough, then add some or all of the gelatine to the mix. Only about 600–900 ml (1–1½ pints) of finished jelly stock will be needed. Make sure you do test the stock/jelly first as the dish is better if only set using natural jellies.

While the beef is still warm, break it down into pieces. The meat will almost separate itself between sinew strips. Any excess sinew can be removed, but make sure that all fat content is kept. The meat can now be pushed through a large mincer plate (5–10 mm/¼–½ in) or chopped by hand with the fat. Mix the meat with 600 ml (1 pint) of reduced liquor and check the consistency. The meat should absorb the liquor and be left reasonably loose. If the mix is too firm, add another 300 ml (10 fl oz) of stock. Taste the corned beef before setting in a mould and correct the seasoning with salt and pepper. The mix can now be pressed firmly into a terrine mould or bowl and set in the fridge overnight.

Once set, turn out the corned beef and serve with a salad and pickle, fried for breakfast or turn it into a corned beef hash.

[riskllama]

ah, so you're talking the whole brining/curing deal, then? i just buy the ones that are already seasoned & vacuum packed - all i gotta do is chop up a cabbage & some carrots and peel a few potatoes.

[2dimes]

Sometimes I love that Herford brand stuff. Mrs dimes pal from Jamaica calls it Bully Beef because of the bull on the can.

This corned beef pie keeps sounding better and better.

Go on.

Llama, Simple Simon is pretty good. Sometimes we get them frozen at Co-op.

[riskllama]

yeah, they are - was always my preferred snack when i went to the Currie barracks farmers' market... . usually had a bunch in the freezer, as well.

[2dimes]

It doesn't feel like it's been closed for ten years.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... h-1.867110