Tourtiere au Manioc (Paleo Meat Pie)

whitecoast

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
About two weeks ago I had a hankering for a meat pie, and an opportunity came up to make something for a potluck so I decided to plant two trees with one seed. :halo:

This is the first time I ever made a pie, and so I spent a few iterations getting the pastry right before I dove in to make the filling and so on. I settled on using cassava flour for the pie, since it is in my experience the flour that behaves most similarl to wheat in terms of texture. I still haven't set the specific amounts of each crust ingredient in stone, so go slowly for that step so that it's not too crumbly, wet, or greasy.

Also, caveat emptor that this pie is:
✅Paleo (if you're avoiding nightshades religiously you can cut out the cayenne and make sure the broth doesn't contain tomato)
❎Keto
❎Carnivore
❎Kosher (unless you refrain from butter and substitute the egg for another binding agent...)

INGREDIENTS

Crust

3 cups cassava flour
1 tsp salt
3 egg yolks (I've seen other use powdered leicithin or gelled chia seed as alternative binding agents, although I haven't tested these)
150g of tallow or butter
17 tbsp water

Spice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 allspice
1/4 mustard
1/8 cloves
1 pinch cayenne pepper

Filling
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp tallow or butter
1 diced onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 lb ground pork
1 lg ground beef
200g butternut squash, cubed
1 cup vegetable or beef broth

"Egg" wash
5g glycine (or 1 egg's white if you're not avoiding egg protein)
1 tbsp water

INSTRUCTIONS
-Blend the non-flour ingredients for the crust, and add the cassava flour gradually to make the dough. Add more fat, egg yolk, or water as necessary to get a moldable ball (you can add more flour if you go too far in the other direction). Wrap the moldable ball in parchment paper and refrigerate it for an hour.
-Mix the spices together in a small cup or bowl.
-Cube the squash into 3/4" cubes and steam-cook them until tender.
-Slice and dice the onion, then pan-fry with some fat and a little bit of salt until golden (~15min).
-Dice the garlic and celery, then add both along with the spices to the onions.
-Add beef and pork and a cup of the vegetable or beef broth broth.
-Cook until liquid is almost gone, then mix in the diced squash and allow it to sit.
-Preheat oven to 375'F.
-Remove the dough from the fridge, and set aside 1/3 of it. Make the pie crust with the larger half and the pie top with the small half. It's best to flatten them out with a rolling pin, sandwiching the dough between parchment paper dusted with some extra cassava flour.
-Pour the filling into the crust, add the top (poke holes so air escapes).
-Brush the top of the pie with the "egg wash". You can also brush designs onto the crust, or add vines or other ornamentation with extra dough you have. 👩‍🎨
-Place in oven for 1 hour, until well browned. Allow it to cool to almost room temperature prior to serving.

The first photograph is the pie right after being placed in the oven, and the next is a served slice.
29398
(Pay no attention to the bacon-wrapped egg - that recipe's still a BIG secret. :lol:)
 
This looks amazing and now I'm very hungry.
I'm searching for years for some good substitute for buckwheat flour that it's not good for me, and this could be it. It looks crunchy what is my favourite thing in food.
Bacon-wrapped egg is awesome idea too.
 
I'm wondering if you experimented with other flours to get the pie crust? Cassava flour is really expensive and I was looking up here and they say using arrowroot or tapioca can act like a substitute.
 
I'm wondering if you experimented with other flours to get the pie crust? Cassava flour is really expensive and I was looking up here and they say using arrowroot or tapioca can act like a substitute.

Hey, no I haven't experimented yet. There are quite a few online recipes that use almond, coconut, arrowroot, tapioca, chickpea, buckwheat, and the like. I haven't had a good experience with tapioca flour or arrowroot on their own, since they tend to make very thin and runny batters which are less suitable for molding. A couple of recipes I've found online (here and here) usually use almond/coconut/cassava flour cut with arrowroot. I suspect almond would make the crust nuttier and the coconut more coconut-y, whereas cassava doesn't really impart much in the way of flavor, while still having a very wheat-like texture. Let me know how whatever you try turns out!
 
I haven't had a good experience with tapioca flour or arrowroot on their own, since they tend to make very thin and runny batters which are less suitable for molding.

I wonder about mixing different ones together. Because I'm reading up and Cassava is pretty starchy, although I guess most flours are, and this article leads me to believe Arrowroot is probably the closest you can get to the same consistency as Cassava. Maybe mixing that with some almond flour, even though it's a nut, could give it that nice crust consistency. Or I might try Arrowroot on it's own because of the inflammatory effects of Almond. Although it seems like when it comes to sensitivities and overall baking, Cassava is the way to go. No wonder it's so expensive!
 
The meat pie looks terrific, and so does the top secret creamy stuffed bacon... still guessing that one 🧐

Maybe yam flour is another option, I´ve never used it to make flour dough but in any case it works fine when flouring fish and meat as it gives them a very crispy touch.
 
The meat pie looks terrific, and so does the top secret creamy stuffed bacon... still guessing that one 🧐

Maybe yam flour is another option, I´ve never used it to make flour dough but in any case it works fine when flouring fish and meat as it gives them a very crispy touch.

That's a good idea too. I'm pretty starch-sensitive so maybe I'll try flouring meat as an occasional treat, or maybe to make something like a beef wellington. 🤤

And egg-stuffed bacon seems just as good a name for it as bacon-wrapped eggs, heh. To make it you just bake lots of bacon in the oven until it's 50% done to how you like it (make sure it's still pliable), use them to line the wells of a greased muffin pan, crack eggs into the wells, add salt and pepper and bake until the eggs are cooked to your liking.
 
I'm wondering if you experimented with other flours to get the pie crust? Cassava flour is really expensive and I was looking up here and they say using arrowroot or tapioca can act like a substitute.
Just a little background information on Gluten-Free flours (and starches) used in making pastry, and, their substitutions. Remember that Cassava (Tapioca) flour is a pure starch. True flours contain protein as well as starch. Also given, at the end, is a flour mix that makes excellent pie pastry crusts, it is a mix of flours and starches that give the desired characteristics of pastry flour - rivals, or even supasses using Gluten flour for making pastry.

In Gluten flours the percentage of Protein varies from 6-13% and the starch/carbohydrate content varies from 73-78%. In Gluten-Free flours, typically those a high percentage of Protein, tend to have a low percentage of starch, and those with a high percentage of starch (usually very high, much greater than that in Gluten flours) have a low percentage of Protein, leading to a gritty texture. Hence, it is necessary to blend Gluten-Free flours to get an acceptable mix of protein and starch that approaches that of Gluten flours. Also, different starches absorb water, swell and gel to different degrees, and at different temperatures, creating different levels of structure and with different levels of ease. A blend of flour and starch is a good way of combining various desired properties. Also, a mix of Gluten-Free flours allows for a means of achieving tasty and satisfying pastry doughs, and pastry approaching, or even exceeding those characteristics of Gluten pastry.

However, ensure that the flours and starches that you use are free from cross-contamination with gluten.

The nutritional percentage values, vitamins and minerals given below are based upon data contained in Whiteley’s book, Bread Matters: Why and How to Make Your Own, and ’official’ data contained in Cases’ book, Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide. Note that in the latter, the values are derived from Cup measures converted to weight measurements. This is less than ideal, as whichever website or book you access, each will give different weights and values for a cup measure. This is due to the difficulty in getting a true way of filling a cup measure, that leads to a consistent weight, and to differences in the fineness of the milled flour produced by the different Commercial Millers. Hence, the reason to stick with an ‘official’ source. So, the values produced below can only be considered as ballpark values.

Almond Flour:
General – Made from blanched almonds
Use up to a maximum of 15% of total flour weight
Nutrition - Protein 21%, Carbohydrates 19%, Fat 50%, Fibre 13%
Vitamins and minerals – Niacin, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium
Benefits – High protein content, provides richness in texture and is high in fat, which allows for easy browning, and absorbs liquids well
Problems – Not for those people with nut allergies, coarse texture, has a distinctive flavour that may be hard to cover up

Arrowroot (Ground):
General – Starch, ground from the root of one of several types of tropical plants
Use up to a maximum of 10% of total flour weight
Nutrition – Protein 0%, Carbohydrates 88%, Fat 0%, Fibre 3%
Vitamins and minerals – Folic acid, Calcium
Benefits – Neutral flavour, structure and tenderness
Problems – Can be expensive and difficult to find

Buckwheat Flour:
General – Ground from unroasted hulled Buckwheat kernals, comes in both dark and light colours
Nutrition – Protein 13%, Carbohydrates 71%, Fat 3%, Fibre 10%
Vitamins and minerals – Ruthin, B vitamins, Lysine, Calcium, Phosphorous, and other minerals
Benefits – Provides some flavour, high nutritional value, adds lightness yet adds body at the same time, similar absorbency to Rice flour
Problems – An acquired taste, very pungent with a strong distinctive flavour, little binding power

Cornflour / Corn Starch / Maize Flour/Meal (polenta):
General – Starch made from finely ground dried corn kernals, Maize meal and polenta are flours made from ground whole seeds
Use up to a maximum of 5% of total flour weight
Nutrition - Protein 1%, Carbohydrates 92%, Fat 1%, Fibre #% (Cornflour/starch)
- Protein 8%, Carbohydrates 77%, Fat 3%, Fibre 10% (Maize meal/Polenta)
Vitamins and minerals – Vitamin A (Maize meal /Polenta), otherwise nothing
Benefits -Cornflour/starch is a very good binder, providing structure and tenderness
Problems – Corn Starch is starchy, lacks nutrition, and contains residues of the corn protein zein, whilst it is not gluten or gliadin, it overlaps in structure with gliadin and can therefore activate some of the responses of gluten/gliadin
- Maize meal oxidises easily and often has a bitter taste, little nutritional value, absorbs twice as much liquid as Rice flour

Potato Starch:
General – Made from the starch portion of potato, lacks nutrition and flavour
Use up to a maximum of 5% of total flour weight
Nutrition - Protein 0%, Carbohydrates 77%, Fat 0%, Fibre 0%
Vitamins and minerals – Calcium
Benefits – Binds with liquids, produces tenderness, tenacity and lightness in the pastry structure, delicate crumb, rich mouth feel
Problems – Using too much leads to a soggy, gummy, heavy texture

White Rice Flour:
General – Made from White Rice, free of bran and polish
Nutrition – Protein 6%, Carbohydrates 81%, Fat 3%, Fibre 4%
Vitamins and minerals – Niacin, Folate, Copper
Benefits – Useful base flour
Problems – Lower in everything when compared with Brown Rice Flour, tight crumb, sandy, slightly gritty texture, bland, empty taste, little binding power, pastry dries out faster and does not keep, used on its own it tends to be crumbly

Brown Rice Flour:
General – Made from whole grain rice
Nutrition – Protein 7%, Carbohydrates 81%, Fat 3%, Fibre 4%
Vitamins and minerals – Vitamin B1, Niacin, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc
Benefits – Higher in nutrition than White Rice, useful base flour, adds more flavour than White Rice
Problems – Short shelf life, little binding power, on its own, or too much, can give a slightly gritty structure, be crumbly and dry out, coarser than White Rice

Sweet Rice Flour:
General – Also known as sticky, sushi, or glutenous rice, is not sweet, made from sticky, short-grain rice, basically it is used as a starch rather than as a flour
Use up to a maximum of 20% of total flour weight
Nutrition – Protein 8%, Carbohydrates 79%, Fat 0%, Fibre 1%
Vitamins and minerals - Calcium, Potassium
Benefits – High in starch, good binder, clear flavour, smooth and non-gritty, softer and delicate texture, the key to good pastry
Problems – Too much results in dense, tight, gummy pastry

Tapioca Flour/Starch / Manioc Flour / Cassava Flour:
General – Starch, made from the Cassava root plant
Use up to a maximum of 15% of total flour weight
Nutrition – Protein 0%, Carbohydrates 95%, Fat 0%, Fibre 0%
Vitamins and minerals – Calcium, Phosphorous, Sodium
Benefits – Starch, has chew, some elasticity and structure, lightness and fine texture, absorbs considerable amounts of liquid, some binding power
Problems – Low in nutrients

The following Gluten-Free flour substitutions are based on information given in Annalise Roberts’ book, Gluten Free Classics: The Heirloom Collection, as she has done much more detailed research than is found published elsewhere.

For 100g Arrowroot powder, substitute with 94g Tapioca Starch.
For 100g Cornflour/Corn Starch, substitute with 75g Potato Starch and 47g Tapioca Flour.
Alternatively, substitute with 75g Potato Starch and 50g Arrowroot.
Or, substitute with 50g Potato Starch and 63g Tapioca Flour.
For 100g Brown Rice Flour, substitute with 100g White Rice Flour, and you may have to increase other ingredients in the bread recipe, but it will not be as good as substituting it with 86g Sorghum flour
For 100g Potato Starch, substitute with 63g Tapioca Flour/Starch, but the bread will be lighter, softer, and the texture will seem more porridge-like when baked.
Alternatively, substitute with 31g Tapioca Flour and 33g Cornflour/Corn Starch.
Or, substitute with 31g Tapioca Flour/Starch, 17g Cornflour/Corn Starch and 17g Sweet Rice Flour.
Otherwise, substitute with 33g Arrowroot powder and 31g Sweet Rice Flour.
For 100g Tapioca Flour, substitute with 107g Arrowroot powder.
Alternatively, substitute with, 80g and 53g Cornflour/Corn Starch, but when the pastry is baked it will be denser and firmer than when using Tapioca flour.
Or, substitute with 53g Potato Starch and 33g Cornflour/Corn Starch.
For 1tsp Gum Arabic, substitute with 1tsp Xanthan gum, or 1 1/2tsp Guar gum.

The following Gluten-Free flour mix, rather than being a White/All Purpose Gluten-Free flour mix, is specifically designed for baking Gluten-Free Pastry.

This pastry flour mix has been developed, tested, refined through research and tasting of finished pies and tarts.

Basic Gluten-Free Pastry Mix
Brown Rice Flour 390g, Sweet Rice Flour 150g, Potato Starch 35g, Tapioca Starch 115g, Arrowroot powder 70g: Total weight 760g

Flour to starch ratio and Protein, Carbohydrate (starch) values are 51% flour, 49% starch; 5% Protein, 82% Carbohydrate (compared to Gluten Flours: 6 – 13% Protein, 73 -78% Carbohydrates, and it is a known fact that pastry is made with Gluten flours low in Protein).

The aim was to produce a Gluten-Free pastry flour that mimics as close as possible a Gluten flour suitable for making pastry. The key to the success of this pastry flour mix is the proportion of Sweet Rice Flour, comprising 50% of the starch weight. It is considered a starch rather than a flour. The beauty of Sweet Rice Flour is that it is high in starch, as well as being high in protein.

This may help, or not.
 
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