Get cooking, part two

It's been about 6 hours since I past posted, with the tourtierre filling cooking away. I frequently stirred the meat, breaking up any bigger pieces as it cooked. My husband was never able to find a longer wooden spoon for me - I think we'll have to go to a restaurant supply store for that - but it worked out in the end. The meat shrinks as it cooks, so by the end of it, it was fairly easy to mix.



Here's a meat and juices, fully cooked. At this point, the pot is taken off the heat for cooling.



To thicken the filling, I first add some breadcrumbs and stir it in. This amount is no where near enough needed to thicken the filling properly. Once it's stirred in, the meat's allowed to sit for about 10 minutes for the crumbs to absorb as much liquid as it can, and for any remaining liquid to rise to the top.



The next time I add flour for thickener. This time, it was enough.



Here's how it looks, after resting for another 10 minutes or so. If there had still been any liquid showing, I'd have added more flour.

For now, the post is still sitting and cooling for a while. Before I turn in for the night, I'll put the lid on and pop it onto the balcony. We're at -13C with a windchill of -23C right now, so the outside is probably going to freeze a bit. There's too much there for it to freeze solid overnight.

Tomorrow, we make the dough and assemble the pies. As the dough needs a few hours to chill in the fridge, this is going to be an all day job.

It's going to be fun!