Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean is a Québécois dish of the

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...

family and a variation of the

tourtière Tourtière (, ) is a French Canadian meat pie dish originating from the province of Quebec, usually made with minced pork, veal or beef and potatoes. Wild game meat such as bear or venison is sometimes used. It is a traditional part of the ...

dish popular in

French Canada Francophone Canadians or French-speaking Canadians are citizens of Canada who speak French, and sometimes refers only to those who speak it as their first language. In 2021, 10,669,575 people in Canada or 29.2% of the total population spoke Fren ...

. This variant originates from the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean differs from a regular tourtière by having thicker crust, cubes of potatoes, meats and broth (instead of only minced meat), as well as being placed in a much larger and deeper container. Like a regular tourtière, the meat chosen is usually

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

veal Veal is the meat of Calf (animal), calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any List of cattle breeds, breed; however, most veal comes from young male calves of Dairy cattle, dairy b ...

Wild game Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, t ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

and

ruffed grouse The ruffed grouse (''Bonasa umbellus'') is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed game bird in North America. It is non-migratory. It is the only spe ...

is used if available.

Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

soaked in

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...

is also sometimes used. Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean is prepared for at least 10 servings, which is why it is a popular choice for festivals and "le temps des fêtes" (a time period in Quebec when families celebrate multiple Holidays in December and January). This tourtière also differs from the

cipaille Sea-pie is a layered meat pie made with meat or fish, and is known to have been served to British sailors during the 18th century. Its popularity was passed on to the New England colonies sufficiently to be included in Amelia Simmons's landmark ...

of Gaspésie and

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

because it doesn't use multiple layers of dough and sometimes uses a different set of ingredients.{{cite news, title=Tourtière ou pâté à la viande?, url=https://www.lapresse.ca/noel/deguster/201511/27/01-4925449-tourtiere-ou-pate-a-la-viande.php, author=Catherine Lefebvre, website=La Presse, language=fr-CA, date=2015-11-27, access-date=2018-10-19, publication-date= Though, the tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean is thought to be more closely related to the cipaille than to the regular tourtière. In fact, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean residents typically reserve the name "tourtière" for this specific dish, while referring to regular tourtière as "pâté à la viande" ("meat pie").

Etymology

Contrary to popular belief, the name “tourtière” does not come from the tourte voyageuse - the now extinct species of bird that used to be the most popular meat for tourtière. Rather, its name comes from a kind of container in which precursors to the tourtières of today were cooked. The oldest known recipe for a tourtière-like dish is found in the 13th-century work ''Liber de Coquina'', in which “Torta parmigiana” is depicted with at least six layers of different ingredients.''L’incroyable odyssée de la tourtière''

Gallery

Tourtiere Viande.jpg, Preparation of the meat. Tourtiere Lard.jpg, Preparation of the animal fat. Tourtiere Pate.jpg, Preparation of the crust. Tourtiere Garniture.jpg, Preparation of the filling. Tourtiere Bouillon.jpg, The broth is poured. Tourtiere Fin.jpg, The tourtière is ready to be cooked. Tourtière à la viande.jpg, The tourtière is ready to be eaten.

References

External links

Zoom sur… Tourtière en son royaume
Émilie Folie-Boivin, ''ledevoir.com'', 23 December 2011. Cuisine of Quebec Christmas food Meat and potatoes dishes Beef dishes Pork dishes Veal dishes Wild game dishes Christmas in Canada

Etymology

Gallery

See also

References

External links