Rappie pie, pâté à la râpure, is a traditional Acadian baked casserole iconic to southwest Nova Scotia, the Yarmouth and Acadian Shores, and rarely found outside Acadian communities. Potatoes are grated, squeezed of their starchy water, then recombined with hot chicken broth and baked with chicken pieces until the top crisps and the inside becomes soft and custardy. It reflects Acadian-French ingenuity with the humble potato, possibly influenced by German settlers, and is a defining dish of Maritime Acadian identity.
A deep golden, crisp top giving way to a soft, creamy, custardy potato layer studded with tender chicken, the broth soaked into every strand. Eaten in squares, it is comforting, savory and the potato becomes almost a sauce.
The defining technique is the grating and squeezing: raw potatoes are grated fine, then wrapped in cloth and squeezed hard to remove their starchy liquid. The dry grated potato is then recombined with scalding chicken broth, which cooks the starch and turns it into a soft, custard-like mass. The mixture is layered with chicken in a baking dish and baked, so the top crisps while the inside stays creamy. The squeezing is what gives rappie pie its unique texture.
Variations
A clam version uses clams instead of chicken. Some cooks add pork scraps.
On the Palate
Where Rappie Pie sits in the Canadian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
6 steps · 1 hour 30 min
- 115 min
Simmer 1 whole chicken (about 1.5kg) in 1.5 litres water with 1 onion and salt 45 minutes; reserve the meat and strain the broth, keeping it scalding hot.
- 220 min
Peel and grate 2kg potatoes finely; wrap in a clean cloth and squeeze hard to remove as much starchy liquid as possible.
Watch outGrate the raw potatoes fine, then wrap in cloth and squeeze out as much starchy liquid as you can — this hard squeeze is the whole technique; leave it wet and you get gluey paste, not the custardy body.
- 315 min
Loosen the dry grated potato in a bowl; pour in the scalding broth gradually, stirring, until the potato softens into a custard-like mass; season with salt and pepper.
Watch outPour the scalding broth into the dry grated potato gradually while stirring — the boiling-hot broth cooks the starch into a soft, custard-like mass; broth that's cooled off won't set it.
- 48 min
Layer half the potato in a buttered baking dish, top with the shredded chicken, cover with the rest of the potato.
- 525 min
Bake at 200C for 90 minutes until the top is deep golden and crisp.
Watch outBake ninety minutes until the top is deep golden and crisp — the long bake crisps the surface while the inside stays creamy; pull it pale and the top is limp.
- 64 min
Rest 10 minutes and serve in squares.
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