Oh, I can't wait.....tonight I am going to make meat pie. My mother's mother was French Canadian and meat pie (or tourtiere more correctly) is a family tradition. My mom says they always had it on Christmas Eve but her mom started having it the night before Thanksgiving too. To me, it is a requirement for both holidays.
There are lots of recipes....our family one is pretty basic. It's equal parts ground beef and ground pork, seasoned with cloves and cinnamon, some onion and thickened with some crushed saltines. It goes into a two crust pie and I can't tell you how much like the holidays it smells and tastes. Here's the recipe in my grandmother's recipe notebook (I use about twice the spices she did):
We always have it with coleslaw and pickled beets....and kidney beans too but I've kind of blocked that part out. My favorite part might be having it for breakfast the next morning with a dollop of cranberry sauce....particularly as you watch the Thanksgiving Day parade.....
My mom says her grandmother used to stuff her turkey with the filling too. I tried it once but it made a heavy Thanksgiving meal even more overwhelming! My mom has always made meat pie---but this year I thought it would be a bit much for them so I told her I would make extra and bring them one. I can't wait to smell them baking....
