Family Recipe Friday - Meat Pie (Tourtiere)

    So for the past 20 plus years my mother (Noella) and her sister (Florence) have been getting together on day in November and making a supply of meat pies. The recipe was learned from their mother Desneige (nee Ouellette) Lafleur. Grandma learned from her mother Aldea (nee Gervais) Ouellette.  how far back it goes from there I don't know. Anyway I have asked them to tell me when and let me come to learn it for many years. I don't want it to be lost. My brother has it, I believe my Uncle Marks wife has it to cook for him; but I don't know if any of their kids have it (and make it) or if any of the other brother's and sister's and or their families have it. Well I was off on sick leave the last 4 months (after an emergency surgery) and so by November I was well enough to go learn. So we all met at aunt Florence's and then went to get the meat. We went back to Florence's and they proceeded to make the meat pies. "All Right...Finally". So all told we made twenty pies that afternoon. Nine each for them and 2 for me. I don't have a big freezer, so I just wanted to learn and make a couple to start. Here is the recipe ....

Meat Pie (Tourtiere)

            This recipe is for 2 pies. On average each pie will have 2 pounds of meat (1 pound beef & 1 pound of pork).  Multiply it out to make larger batches. While you can of course make your own dough for the pie crust it is simpler (especially if doing a larger batch of say 10-20 pies at once) to just buy the boxes of no name frozen 9 inch pie tins (come 2 to a box normally. Then by the Pillsbury ready-made pie crust tops. They come 2 to a box also. 

Ingredients:        - 2 lbs. medium ground beef

- 2 lbs. lean ground pork

- 2 medium potatoes 

- 1 large onion                       

- 1 teaspoon garlic (minced) 

- Sage (to taste)         

- Poultry seasoning (to taste)           

- Salt & Pepper (to taste)

- Trio mix (gravy thickener) 1 teaspoon

Preparation:      1) Peel, cut and boil potatoes (mashed potatoes style). When done drain water and hold in a bowl (may need it later). Mash the potatoes well & hold till needed.

                                    2) Finely chop the onion and cook in a large greased pan.

                                    3) Mix both the beef and pork together well and start cooking in the pan when onions are cooked down.

                                    4) Once the meat starts browning add the seasonings.

                                    5) If the meat appears to be too dry, add some of the potatoe water you held on to.

                                    6) Once meat is completely browned add in the mashed potatoes and mix well.

                                    7) Add Trio mix (gravy thickener).

                                    8) Fill 9 inch pie shells, water the top edges of the pie shell crust, and place the top crust on the pie (cut away extra) and using a fork crimp the edges of the top to the pie shell base.

                                    9) Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes (until crust is golden brown). Then place in zip lock freezer bags to store.  De-thaw and re-heat as needed.

    The other great thing was that my aunt Florence had agreed to let me go through all her photographs and see if there were any (especially older one) that I wanted to copy. So I brought my mobile scanner and a pad of paper and copied about 60 pictures. Included in there were some I had never seen before including one old one of their father (my grandpa Wilfrid Lafleur) standing in front of the truck he use to own. I was able to copy it and then repair it. \I will have to make copies for all the other family members that will want it.