Tortiere de Viande, to can
2 pounds ground beef
4 pounds ground pork
2 cups water
4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 large spanish onions, finely diced
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 1/2 to 4 cups fluffy (fresh) bread crumbs
crust for double crust pie(s)
Combine all the ingredients except the bread crumbs (and pie crust, naturally!) and bring to the simmering point in a large kettle. Break up the meat well with a wooden spoon, and simmer for 30 minutes. (no, contrary to most recipes, you don't brown the meat. Oddly, this works very well)
At this point, you can continue making the pies, or can up the "mix". If you are canning it, divide the cooked mixture while piping hot into pint or quart jars, (`1 quart or 2 pints make 1 pie. It takes about 2# of meat to make a quart). Fill them to 1" from the top with the mixture. If you have trouble dividing up the broth part and get a "dry" jar towards the end, don't be afraid to top it off with a little water. It actually will can up very well without water covering the meat mixture, but you need the broth or water to moisten the bread crumbs for the proper moist pie. You could add water later when making the pies, if you wish.
For canning, wipe the rims VERY carefully (the broth is quite fatty, and a bit of fat on the rim of the jar will prevent a good seal) and process at 10# pressure for 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts.
MAKE SURE YOU DON'T RUSH THE COOLING PROCESS FOR THE CANNER. Let it cool down naturally until the pressure is completely released!! Hurrying this step can lead to liquid siphoning out of the jars... while you can often get away with this with vegetables, the fatty nature of this broth will ruin the seals every time.
OK, when you open a jar of "mix" or are continuing with the recipe. For every quart of mix use a cup and a half of fluffy fresh bread crumbs. Heat the mix to boiling (if you had canned it previously) add the bread crumbs and stir well. Fill a crust lined pie plate (the original recipe amounts makes three pies), cover with a top crust, and crimp the edges to seal. Cut vents in the top crust, and bake in a preheated 400° oven for about 30 minutes until the crust is nicely browned.
These pies were traditionally served on Christmas Eve after Midnight Mass, and again on New Year's Day. They are delicious either warm or cold, and combine very well with spicy condiments like ketchup or pickled beets.
I've never bothered skimming the fat from this... I do use home grown pork and beef, and our beef is quite lean... but the pork isn't. When the jars cool, you will see a fairly significant fat layer on top. Don't worry about it. The bread crumbs soak it up nicely, and I've used this mix which was canned as long as 5 years earlier without the slightest hint of rancidity.
If fat is a major problem for you, it's probably easiest to remove it when you open the jars to use, rather than trying to chill the mixture overnight and skim it off, although that might work as well.
summerthyme
2 pounds ground beef
4 pounds ground pork
2 cups water
4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 large spanish onions, finely diced
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 1/2 to 4 cups fluffy (fresh) bread crumbs
crust for double crust pie(s)
Combine all the ingredients except the bread crumbs (and pie crust, naturally!) and bring to the simmering point in a large kettle. Break up the meat well with a wooden spoon, and simmer for 30 minutes. (no, contrary to most recipes, you don't brown the meat. Oddly, this works very well)
At this point, you can continue making the pies, or can up the "mix". If you are canning it, divide the cooked mixture while piping hot into pint or quart jars, (`1 quart or 2 pints make 1 pie. It takes about 2# of meat to make a quart). Fill them to 1" from the top with the mixture. If you have trouble dividing up the broth part and get a "dry" jar towards the end, don't be afraid to top it off with a little water. It actually will can up very well without water covering the meat mixture, but you need the broth or water to moisten the bread crumbs for the proper moist pie. You could add water later when making the pies, if you wish.
For canning, wipe the rims VERY carefully (the broth is quite fatty, and a bit of fat on the rim of the jar will prevent a good seal) and process at 10# pressure for 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts.
MAKE SURE YOU DON'T RUSH THE COOLING PROCESS FOR THE CANNER. Let it cool down naturally until the pressure is completely released!! Hurrying this step can lead to liquid siphoning out of the jars... while you can often get away with this with vegetables, the fatty nature of this broth will ruin the seals every time.
OK, when you open a jar of "mix" or are continuing with the recipe. For every quart of mix use a cup and a half of fluffy fresh bread crumbs. Heat the mix to boiling (if you had canned it previously) add the bread crumbs and stir well. Fill a crust lined pie plate (the original recipe amounts makes three pies), cover with a top crust, and crimp the edges to seal. Cut vents in the top crust, and bake in a preheated 400° oven for about 30 minutes until the crust is nicely browned.
These pies were traditionally served on Christmas Eve after Midnight Mass, and again on New Year's Day. They are delicious either warm or cold, and combine very well with spicy condiments like ketchup or pickled beets.
I've never bothered skimming the fat from this... I do use home grown pork and beef, and our beef is quite lean... but the pork isn't. When the jars cool, you will see a fairly significant fat layer on top. Don't worry about it. The bread crumbs soak it up nicely, and I've used this mix which was canned as long as 5 years earlier without the slightest hint of rancidity.
If fat is a major problem for you, it's probably easiest to remove it when you open the jars to use, rather than trying to chill the mixture overnight and skim it off, although that might work as well.
summerthyme
