By Nancy Leasman
“Have any of you made mincemeat pie?”
I asked the question of the group of mature women in my Tuesday morning coffee group at the senior center. I figured they’d tried most everything in their over-stocked shelves of cookbooks.
“Sure,” was the most common response to my question.
“How do you make it?” I followed up. I had never made mincemeat pie, though I remember it made by my grandmother. I also remember not being overly fond of it.
“Well, you buy a jar of mincemeat and put it in a pastry crust,” replied one seasoned baker.
“But what’s in it?” I wanted to know.
The general consensus of the group was that they didn’t know. Maybe apples. Definitely spices. But did it have meat? They didn’t think so. I needed to know.
The search began and I quickly learned that commercial canned mincemeat was a mixture of apples and other ingredients. Specifically, as listed on a 27-ounce jar ready to make one pie ($17 to $34 per jar): “water, corn syrup, raisins, dried apples, molasses, corn starch modified, distilled vinegar, dried citrus peel, salt, spices, beef, bitters, fruit pectin.”
My eyes did a double-take when I read “beef” since I’d learned from a more fleshed-out history of mincemeat that though it has “meat” in the name, the product has rarely contained meat in the last century. “Beef” in the ingredients list on modern jars was likely beef suet or beef fat.
Mincemeat pies were considered both sweet and savory and were originally expensive dishes to make with meat, fruit, sugar and spices. These were dishes of celebrations and came to be associated with the extravagance of holidays in England. Dating back to the 12th century, mincemeat was popular until the Puritans considered it a gluttonous treat and banned it under Cromwell’s rule. When Charles II took the throne, the bans were rescinded, though mincemeat pies were thereafter smaller and lacking the meat.
Since I did the research and learned how to make real mincemeat, I was determined to make one pie for my family’s Christmas celebration last year. Since game meats were often used in mincemeat, I opted for venison as the requisite meat ingredient.
Here is the long ingredient list for one pie:
1 pound finely chopped beef or venison
1 ¼ cups raisins
1 ¼ cups currants (I couldn’t find currants in the local stores so used dried cranberries)
½ cup golden raisins
2 cups finely chopped apples
7 ounces shredded beef suet
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons candied lemon peel
2 tablespoons candied orange peel
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped blanched almonds
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon mace
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon coriander
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons dark rum
Mix all ingredients except the brandy and rum. Simmer on low for two hours and relish the scent of tradition wafting through your kitchen. Add alcohol toward the end of cooking time. Refrigerate until use.
I made the pie last Christmas and built anticipation of the treat prior to dishing it up at the end of the Christmas feast. Some of my family expected a savory dish since it was called mincemeat, though they hadn’t questioned why it was served up as dessert. Most thought it was good, though would not have put it above a good apple pie. And my surprising conclusion: it would have been better if I’d left the meat out. The meat was dry and chewy even though it was stewed with the other ingredients for two hours.
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