Pork Pie

[Snowy]

All right, I'll ask... what is a pork pie?

OK... some call it tourtiere meat pie ... It's a French meat pie.
Krom's mom was making this in Tignish on Prince Edward Island, Canada, when she was a kid and she passed away about 12 years ago in her late 70s. So, what I've done here is based on a recipe over 100 years old.

Mom never had a recipe so she could never give me the recipe. I was never able to make it with her, so over the years I've tried to duplicate what she described, working off different recipes off the net. Last year I came closest. I might have it this year. We'll know in a while. Her's was always the BEST! You can buy premade pork pie in the stores all around here, but it's not the same.

Lots of people use half ground hamburg and half ground pork. I did that last year (altered some) and it was real close.
I know she always told me a pork butt, salt pork and onion .. you can never have enough onion. I asked her how she did that if Joe didn't like onion. She told me like this and held her thumbnail to the edge of her pinkie nail. Ahh... I got it.

So... here's what I did this year... I was working and Joe was going to the store so I asked him to pick up a 4 pound pork butt, about 4 large white onions and some Bell's seasoning mix (I had the other spices). When I got home I found a 6+ pound pork butt he had the butcher cut for him (the butcher at the local Hannaford is French). I told Joe to get about 8 large white onions. He did.


So.. I jumped on it tonight when I got home from work... took me 2 hours to prep....

I took the roast and cut it all into chunks about half the size of my last knuckle on my pinkie finger.
Joe doesn't like onions so I use a cheese grater and grate them so all the juice from the onion is retained.
Melted a little butter in the bottom of this large pan to get things started and as I grated the onions I dumped them (and their juice) in the pan. The onions are critical.
I cut up all the salt pork into chunks, tossed that in the pan. Added 4 cups of water.

THEN.... I have no measurements... but a couple sprinkles of cinnamon... not a lot, just a teeny bit.... all of this required only a couple sprinkles of cinnamon. I sprinkled in a couple palmfulls of Summer Savory. And I dumped about half the box of Bell's Seasoning in there.... remember... this is with 6 pounds of pork butt and 8 large white onions.

This will render and boil for hours... I'll adjust the seasonings after a couple of hours....
It should be salty, but not offensive.

Keep in mind, as this cooks, the onions are powerful. If you want the texture of onion in the pie, then just chop very fine. If you want the flavor without the texture, grate.... so.... after a half hour of boiling, it's starting to actually smell like the pie should taste. I won't taste test it for another couple of hours, until the pork and spices all have a chance to meld.

I hope this one comes out good. Last year I was close with the 3/4 ground pork and 1/4 hamburg (I had adjusted it then). This chunks of pork butt has me nervous. My hands are cramped... I hope I got the chunks small enough.

We'll see... I'll keep you posted.... Meanwhile, here's what I started with (the salt shaker is to adjust the salt taste after):