Cipaille

Sea Pie

Tuscan Sausage

I saw an article about Quebec’s Secret Meat Pie. Cipaille is a recipe which hails from my mother’s side of the family.  After a bit of research, I was able to adjust the recipe to be more historically accurate. Now it features six layers and quatre épices which is popular in French Canadian cooking.

This recipe is said to have origins from within the British Navy. It features a deep-dish pie with three meats and potatoes. The cloves give it a distinctive flavour which really makes this unique among my recipes.

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2½ cups (590 ml) of sifted flour (Divided)
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of salt
  • 1 cup (235 ml) of milk

Cipaille

  • ½ pound (225 g) of pork
  • ½ pound (225 g) of beef
  • ½ pound (225 g) of chicken
  • 4 ounces (115 g) of onions
  • 3 cloves (9-15 g) of garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) of ground cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon (1.25 ml) of nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) of ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of salt
  • ⅓ cup (90 ml) of flour (Optional)
  • 1½ pounds (700 g) of potatoes
  • 30 fluid ounces (900 ml) of chicken broth

Preparation

  1. Cut pork, beef and chicken into small ½ inch (125 mm) cubes.
  2. Mince onions and garlic.
  3. In a small bowl add pork, beef, chicken, onions and garlic. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt then knead until you have a consistent finish.
  4. Cover the bowl then place it in the fridge overnight.
  5. Pre-heat the oven at 300°F (150°C).
  6. Cut potatoes into cubes then set aside.
  7. Except for ½ cup (120 ml) of flour, place ingredients for the crust into a medium-sized bowl. Knead and add remaining flour until your dough is no longer sticky.
  8. (Optional) Add flour to the meat and mix until you have a consistent finish.
  9. In a 4 quart (3.7 l) pot, layer half of the meat mix, layer half of the potatoes and cover with half the dough.
  10. Repeat with the remaining half of meat, potatoes and dough. Make a hole in the middle of the dough down to the bottom of the pot to monitor fluid levels.
  11. Pour chicken broth into the hole until level with the upper crust.
  12. Place in the oven covered for 5 to 6 hours. Check levels from time to time, topping up with remaining broth until ready.
  13. Remove from the oven and the meal is ready-to-serve.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Cipaille by Evelyn Chartres is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search