Torte Caire

Notes: This recipe is from Ken's Grandma, Violet Carlson, and traditionally we eat it on Christmas Eve.

Servings:  56 (makes 7 whole pies)

Ingredients:

8 pounds  potato

1 large  onion – diced

3 pounds  ground round

3 pounds  ground pork

4 ½ teaspoons  salt

1 teaspoon  ground cloves

1 teaspoon  cinnamon

1 teaspoon  allspice

Instructions:

Peel and cut up 8 # of potatoes and put them in a pot to boil.  You will be making them into mashed potatoes.

Brown the onion and put in a very large bowl. Then brown the meat a pound at a time for good manageability.  Drain all the fat from each batch. You can do this easily with a colander. When drained, add meat to the onions.

Make the mashed potatoes so that they are creamy.  Add the mashed potatoes to the meat-onion mixture and begin stirring it.  When pretty well mixed, sprinkle in the spices being careful to mix them in well.

When well stirred, taste the mixture to see if any additional seasoning is needed and add what you think you need.

Make three recipes of piecrust or use three boxes of pie crust mix.  Make sure to use cold water for the crust.  Roll out the dough as for a pie and fill with the filling and top with a crust.  I use foil pans for the pies. The smaller ones are the best for they easily fit into a gallon Ziploc for easy freezing for later. Squeeze the excess air from the bag for the best results. They freeze wonderfully.  Do not cook them first if you are freezing them for later.  This recipe makes 5 to 7 pies depending on the size pans you use.  

Bake at 375 for an hour and a half if thawed first or maybe a couple of hours if you start with frozen ones. You will have to check because there are many variables such as the size and just how frozen they are. (I always make these ahead because if takes almost four hours from start to finish to make this.)

When the crust it brown and looks done, this is how I tell it is ready. I put a sharp knife in the middle of the pie and leave it in for a couple of seconds. When I pull it out it should be very very hot if it is done.