18 Nebraskaland • November 2019
IN THE FIELD
By Ryan Sparks
VENISON TOURTIERE
While living in Canada I was introduced to tourtière,
a French-Canadian meat pie. In Quebec, tourtière is
traditionally part of the Christmas and New Year's Eve meal.
These days it's made with a mixture of pork and beef, but
traditionally it was made with wild game like deer, moose,
and caribou. When I tried it for the first time I immediately
knew it was perfectly suited for venison. It is usually served
with a sweet tomato relish or jam. I've also included a recipe
for my version. I would be cheating you out of some fun if I
didn't mention the French-Canadian tradition of using the
leftover pastry to make pets de sœur, a pastry filled with
butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup, which is rolled, sliced,
and baked and whose rough translation is "nun's farts."
Servings: 6 generous
Ingredients:
Pastry
•
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
•
1¼ teaspoons salt
•
1 cup unsalted butter, still cold and cut into cubes
•
4-6 tablespoons ice water
Filling
•
1 tablespoon olive oil
•
1 tablespoon butter
•
1 pound ground venison
•
½ pound ground pork
•
Salt and pepper to taste
•
¼ pound cremini mushrooms, finely diced
•
1 onion, finely diced
•
4 garlic cloves, minced
•
¼ teaspoon ground clove
•
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
•
1 teaspoon allspice
•
1 teaspoon cinnamon
•
1 small potato, grated
•
½ cup white wine
Assembly
•
Flour, for rolling
•
1 egg yolk
