Tourte à la Viande Auvergnate

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The tourte à la viande (meat pie) is the Auvergne's festive covered pie — a deep, round, double-crusted pastry filled with a mixture of pork, veal, and often duck or rabbit, enriched with onions, mushrooms, and cream, sealed and baked until the crust is golden and the filling is succulent. This is not the refined pâté en croûte of Lyonnais charcuterie but a hearty mountain pie designed to sustain and celebrate — the centerpiece of Sunday lunches, harvest meals, and fête days in the Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme. The filling: dice 400g pork shoulder, 300g veal shoulder, and 200g duck or rabbit meat into 2cm cubes. Marinate overnight in white wine (Saint-Pourçain blanc), diced onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. The next day, drain the meat (reserve the marinade), brown in lard in batches, then combine with sautéed onions, sliced mushrooms (cèpes or Paris), chopped parsley, and 150ml crème fraîche. Line a deep pie dish (25cm, at least 8cm deep) with a thick (5mm) pâte brisée, fill with the meat mixture, pour over a cupful of the reduced marinade, cover with a pastry lid, crimp the edges, cut a chimney hole, and insert a small foil funnel (cheminée) to release steam. Brush with egg wash and bake at 180°C for 1.5-2 hours, covering with foil if the crust darkens too fast. The tourte is served warm, cut in thick wedges, with a green salad dressed in walnut oil. The chimney is the critical detail: without it, steam trapped inside turns the crust soggy and the filling watery. The Auvergnat tourte is always deep — 8cm minimum — distinguishing it from flat galettes and thin tourtes found in other regions.

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