Meat Pie Magic: The History of Tourtière

By Gabby Peyton

The meat pie is beloved around the world, and every culture has its savoury rendition. In Australia, the hand pie is a street food staple, as is the empanada in South America — if you head to Ireland, you’re sure to come across a steak and Guinness pie to enjoy, while in Lebanon it’s the sfiha that reigns supreme. But Canada’s version, specifically Quebec’s version, Tourtière, is unique in its flavour, history and its preparation. Let’s have a slice, shall we?

So, what is Tourtière?

Tourtière is a double-crusted savoury pie with ground meat, usually pork and beef, cooked down slowly with a variety of spices and baked in a flakey, buttery crust. According to Quebec tradition, tourtière is a winter dish served at Christmas time as part of Réveillon, a feast enjoyed by those of the Catholic faith during the holiday season, usually Christmas Eve after midnight mass.

There are a few origin stories when it comes to why this Quebecois meat pie is called tourtière. Some historians believe it is derived from the 5th-century pie called La Patina which was made in a bronze pot with four layers of pastry crust with a hole in the top crust. Others believe it came about much later in the 19th century deriving from “tourte” which means pigeon. Though the passenger pigeon went extinct by the early 1900s due to overhunting, there were billions throughout the East Coast of Canada, especially on the Île d’Orléans in Saint Lawrence River and were very easy to catch — perfect for putting in a pie.

Interestingly, in the Maritime provinces, in New Brunswick in particular, tourtière is known as Pâté à la Viande, a traditional Acadian rendition of the savoury meat pie.

Tourtière of yesteryear

Culinary historians have been able to trace back tourtière to the 1600s when Quebec was first being settled by the French along the Saint Lawrence River from the ocean through to Quebec City. Throughout the history of tourtière, two regional varieties have stood the test of time, the first a shallow pie style filled with pork and perhaps other meats, while the deep-dish rendition from the Saguenay Lac St. Jean area that contains cubes of meats with veggies, usually potatoes.

Though the dish has been around since at least the 17th century, the first appearance of tourtière in a cookbook is in La cuisinière Canadienne which was written and published by Louis Perrault in Montreal in 1840 — it is accepted as the first French language cookbook published in Canada. This recipe contains three types of meat (pork, mutton, and veal) and does include potatoes. Archival imaging has allowed for the recipe to proliferate throughout the internet.

These days the options for tourtière recipes are endless, and every Quebecois chef from Julian Armstrong to Ricardo has their own recipe. Some renditions of tourtière have diced potatoes, others have ground meats, while some have chunks of meat that resemble a stew in consistency and there is great debate surrounding the use of butter versus lard. However, the main idea of a spiced meat pie stands the test of time, always beloved when it lands on the table.

Frozen in time

While tourtière remains a beloved Quebecois dish enjoyed at home with family over the holidays, these days, many iterations of tourtière can be found across the country in grocery store freezers, specialty markets and farmers’ markets. St. Hubert’s version is probably one of the most recognizable brands of tourtière — the Quebecois restaurant chain has been pumping out pies since the 1950s.