Family Stories

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière

CHC CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE SERIES

Prelude: I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian. For the month of May, in honour of Mother’s Day (May 14), CHC invited food bloggers to share recipes relating to mothers, recipes and techniques passed on by our mothers or grandmothers, or from our mother’s culture. I am honoured and proud to share a historical and famous recipe for My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière.

Food has been such a significant part of my French Canadian heritage and some of my clearest childhood recollections are about food. It is not only the memories of the food that are so clear but the smells, the tastes and the surroundings that are so vivid. Holidays would not be the same without Mom’s tourtiere. In our family, the Christmas Eve menu always included a large tourtiere to enjoy before midnight mass.

Skip to Tourtière Recipe

There are a number of food traditions that are very important to my family, but my Mom’s famous tourtière is the most requested. I have had many versions of tourtière – from chefs colleagues, relatives and friends, but none can compare to my “Little Mom’s” French Canadian Tourtière. (More on “Little Mom”).

My Mom’s version of tourtière is more savoury than traditionally prepared tourtière due to the use of sage and poultry seasoning as opposed to the warm spices typically used (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice). Mom always insisted on a mixture of ground meat: beef, veal and pork. This combination makes a huge difference in the overall taste and texture of the tourtière filling. The aromatic fragrance of the tourtière mixture simmering is magical. Writing about it makes me nostalgic. Although I have adapted the process somewhat, I follow her recipe method and always make enough to share with family and friends, which was her tradition.

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtiere

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière became quite famous in a small village in Ontario. Everyone loved it when she made her tourtière pies for church or village social events. As a matter of fact, the ladies of the village church approached her many years ago for her tourtière recipe to make and sell the pies for the parish fundraising efforts. She not only generously shared her tourtière recipe – she also taught them how to make it….

“Little Mom”

By Denise Pare-Watson

The Inspiration of Urbnspice Series

My little Mom is adorable!

I cannot quite recall when the name “Little Mom” started – it is definitely a term of endearment. It could be the fact that my wee mom is only 4 ft., 6 inches; having said that, she has a great presence despite her diminutive stature. The entire village adores my “Little Mom.” Strangers fall in love with her and family and friends are fiercely protective of her.

Little Mom

She has the patience of a Saint. This I can tell you from personal experience. I am one of her five daughters. There are so many stories I could tell you! We all have our unique personalities and eccentricities. I can assure you we presented some very interesting and exasperating challenges to our parents. Now that I have two daughters of my own, I often wondered while raising my girls how in the world my Mom did it with five! She handled each and every situation with patience and understanding. She was never too busy to listen to our worries, complaints, dreams and achievements or console us whenever we anguished over our love lives.

As a kid and a teenager, I spent a great deal of time standing by my Mom’s side watching her working at home whether it be cooking without recipes or sewing without patterns. She possessed a high energy level and gave the impression that she was tireless.

I was like most teenagers: self-absorbed, self-centered, and a little impatient with myself. When I decided to try my hand at making a pie, I thought it would be a cinch to make the pie dough. After all, Mom made it looks so easy. She would combine all the ingredients together into an old, beat-up, shallow, porcelain- coated metal bowl, and the resulting pie crusts were always wonderful. The instructions from my Mom were “put enough flour up to the certain chip in the old bowl, and shortening about the size of an egg, etc.” Easy, right? Absolutely – NOT! My first attempt at pie pastry can only be compared to a rubber ball. It did actually bounce! I am happy to say that I have come a long way in the world of pie pastry and can now confidently match my Mom’s. In this modern pastry chef world of precise weights and measurements, I still marvel at the simplicity of the process and the quality of product that my Mom always made in that old beat-up bowl. I would love that bowl now.

Traditional Tourtiere

As you can only imagine, when there are five girls around, there were many “incidents” in the kitchen, like the time that one of my sisters decided to make a cake. Since her cooking experience up to that point was limited to scrambling eggs; that is exactly what she did when the cake mix called for eggs! Needless to say, the cake had an “interesting” texture. Mom took it all in stride and patiently provided constructive guidance.

She was not at all surprised when I left my job as Assistant to a Dean at a university in Alberta to return to school full time to study the Culinary Arts. She told me that I had always shown (even at an early age) a passion for food, how it was grown, how it was prepared, how it tasted, and how it was presented.

Our family had a large market garden which was my father’s pride and joy. I grew up helping him tend his garden. I experienced the taste of a freshly picked Ontario beefsteak tomato, and the crunch of a crisp fresh apple, and the musky smell of the cantaloupes ripening in the warm sun. Talk about the perfect stimulus to kick start the passion that I still enjoy today.

My Mom inspired me to become the person I am today. Mom recently turned 90 and although she has slowed her pace somewhat, she still enjoys cooking and sewing as much as she did when I was growing up. We often discuss our latest kitchen triumphs and experiments, foods we have both tried, or want to try.

Watermelon and Fruit Display created by Little Mom

I aspire to be as patient and generous with my time as she is with her time. My “Little Mom’s” abilities as a wonderful cook, mother, mentor and friend will continue to be my inspiration.

My Inspiration has always been my Little Mom

May 6th, 1927-2018

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My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtiere

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You can find me on social media (see links below) – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy!

Denise Paré-Watson

The Urb’n’Spice Chef

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The Vintage Family Bean Pot

By Denise Pare-Watson

I feel very fortunate to have the Vintage Family Bean Pot. It has been in our family for at least four generations – it was a gift to my parents on their wedding day. This pot has made endless pots of beans for our family. I love making beans in this pot! The beans just taste better!

It has a worn and rustic patina on the outer surface and is wonderfully seasoned from decades of use. The fragrance filling my kitchen was so inviting that we could hardly wait to dig in.

The recipe that I have the best results with starts with dried beans. Although most of the recipes I have made in the past use navy beans, I prefer a medley of beans.

Medley of Beans

You can find the recipe for Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans here. I used the convenience of a pantry staple; (canned bean medley) to simplify the recipe and significantly decrease preparation and cooking times with an excellent result. It makes a complete meal served with a hearty whole grain bread. I hope you try this vintage family recipe. Do you have vintage family recipes that you like to share? Tell me about them.

Vintage Family Bean Pot | urbnspice.com

Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans (the simple way)