Tourtière du Lac-Saint-Jean

Elsewhere in Quebec, tourtière is a flat pie of ground meat about three centimetres deep. In Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean it is a different dish entirely that happens to share the name: cubed meat, traditionally a mix including game, layered with potato in a deep pastry-lined dish, filled with broth and baked slowly for six to eight hours or overnight so the meat breaks down and the crust absorbs the liquid. The result is dense and closer to a stew in a pastry case. It is a réveillon dish for Christmas Eve and New Year, and the argument over which pie deserves the name is a genuine regional dispute.

What you actually see

• The deep dish - a pie many centimetres deep rather than flat.
• The cubed meat - pieces layered with potato rather than ground filling.
• The long bake - six to eight hours or overnight in a slow oven.
• The naming dispute - the regional argument with the rest of Quebec.

When to go

Year-round in local restaurants, but December is when it belongs, made for the réveillon meals of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Some places make it only in that season.

Honest expectations

Outside the region you will get the flat pie under the same name. Some restaurants make it only for the holidays. It is very rich and a full portion defeats most people.

Nearby

Lac Saint-Jean surrounds; Val-Jalbert is on the shore.