what is a meat pie called in america

A pot pie, in US and Canadian dialects, is a type of meat pie with a top pie crust that is commonly used throughout the continent, consisting of flaky pastry.

Warm spices in a cold land

Spices in sweet and savory dishes included cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, cardamom, and nutmeg, liberally used, along with maple and molasses. Meals were slow-cooked, hearty, full of carbohydrates and fat. It fed large families and hard workers who burned every calorie. What wasn’t served up fresh was cured, salted, canned, dried, smoked, and pickled to preserve for the rest of the year.

Of course, one of the reasons many of these dishes survived is because they are pure comfort food and taste really good! I learned to cook them the way my mother did, by watching someone else. Often, there was no written recipe, just a technique, so the passing on of this information was an intimate experience that created memories as well as skill.

Many of the special dishes were tied to Catholic religious holidays. Bountiful Christmas Eve feasts are what those food memories are made of, and two recipes in particular stand out all these years later: a rich, savory meat pie called “tourtière,” and the beautifully elaborate “Bûche de Noël” a rolled sponge cake, sprinkled with brandy, and decorated as a Yule log with chocolate frosting, meringue “mushrooms,” piped holly leaves, and cinnamon candy berries, the favorite of the children in the house.

I make both of these dishes most years, but, of course, I have added my own little twists to the original. My mother made the Bûche de Noël filled with homemade blackberry jam, and sometimes I still do because I love blackberries. But I like it filled with whipped cream, too, and I always frost mine with whipped chocolate ganache– it’s not quite as sweet and it pure chocolate delight.

The tourtière was made with ground meat, pork or pork and beef, with potatoes and cracker crumbs, baked in a flaky lard pastry. It was served dripping with brown gravy. Every family had their own version and spice mix, and sometimes more than one – our larger family has three or four, including one with cheddar cheese on top!

The preparation of the meat pie is a bit peculiar; you boil the meat for nearly an hour! This changes the texture and extracts all the fat, allowing you to leave only what you want in the final dish. The ground pork included less important pieces of the pig, another way to make use of all scraps, even for holiday food. The dish was sometimes made with a meat-and-cracker filling, no vegetables.

Everyone has a recipe

You can use any type of ground meat, including turkey and chicken, just don’t mention it to one of the old guard! I created a version using soy sausage and a gluten-free crust, topped off with wild mushroom gravy that pleases everyone from meat eaters to vegetarians. My niece Keri loves this one!

Family food tells the bigger family history, and offers a sense of connection with the generations. Along the way, the recipes evolve, the essence of the original enhanced to reflect the time we live in. But, make no mistake, even with the modifications, it is still Mémé’s tourtiere!

Why Aren’t Americans Into Meat Pies?

FAQ

What is the other name for meat pie?

Does USA have meat pies?

What is an English meat pie called?

What were meat pies originally called?

What is a meat pie?

A meat pie is a pie with a filling of meat and often with other savory ingredients. They are found in cuisines worldwide. Meat pies are usually baked, fried, or deep fried to brown them and develop the flavour through the Maillard reaction. Many varieties have a flaky crust.

What is a pot pie?

A pot pie, in US and Canadian dialects, is a type of meat pie with a top pie crust that is commonly used throughout the continent, consisting of flaky pastry. Pot pies may be made with a variety of fillings including poultry, beef, seafood, or plant-based meat substitute fillings, and may also differ in the types of crust.

Where do meat pie fillings come from?

In North America, various regional meat pie fillings are celebrated, such as the hearty tourtière in Quebec, Canada, featuring a mix of ground pork, beef, and warming spices like cinnamon and cloves.

What are Greek meat pies called?

Greek meat pies are called kreatopita and contain ground beef, onions and feta cheese. The filling for kreatopita is wrapped in phyllo dough. Indian meat pies are called samosa and usually contain peas, spiced potatoes, coriander, lentils, or ground beef or chicken and are often served with chutney.