Morning Glenda, I think I asked this question either last year or the year before on this forum. Most of the responses were that they didn't make mincemeat anymore but there were a few brave soles that did, myself included. This is the recipe my mom uses. She only makes them at Thanksgiving and Christmas. If her mincemeat tarts weren't on the dessert table at holiday times it just wouldn't seem right.
It's a very simple recipe but tastes fantastic.
As she is getting older my daughter and niece will be helping her next year prepare them. Handing down from one generation to the other, great memories. So here goes...

Mom's Mincemeat

12 apples- peeled and cored
1 box raisins
1 box currants
1/2 lb suet-skin removed
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup sugar

Grind apples, raisins and suet into large bowl. Stir in currants, spices and sugar. Mix well. Cover and place in fridge for at least 3 weeks(longer the better). Stir occasionally. You may put in brandy (my aunt does) but mom likes her's without. Enjoy and start making those memories! NancyLouise

I used to make it before there were British import shops here where I lived.

* Posted by: Canarybird (My Page) on Sat, Mar 29, 03 at 9:03

I used to make my own meatless mincemeat as I was unable to buy it here. It came out very well. Can't imagine Christmas without the scent of mince tarts cooking in the oven and the sight of them arranged on a lace doily-covered silver tray and lightly dusted with icing sugar. Here's the recipe I use with (an old) pic of my mince tarts:

MINCEMEAT
***************
Ingredients:
**************

1 lb. apples, peeled and cored
1/2 lb (227 grams) sultanas
1 lb. (454 grams) seeded dark raisins
1 lb. " currants
1 lb beef suet lightly chopped
1/2 lb (227 grams)sugar - demerara or soft brown
1 cup (170 grams) mixed peel (purchased candied lemon & orange peel)
2 TBS mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
1 TBS ground cloves
1 lemon - grated rind and half the juice
1 orange - grated rind and half the juice
1 1/2 cups brandy

Method:
**************
I used the old-fashioned hand cranked mincer - it clamped onto the edge of the table. Nowadays I have an electric mincer. Put through the mincer: suet, apples, raisins and mixed peel, catching it in a large basin. Add to the basin the currants, sultanas, sugar, spices, cloves, rind and juice of orange and lemon. Mix all well and add brandy - mix again.

Cover the basin with a cloth - put into a dark, cool and dry place and stir every day for a week. Put into jars and seal down. Tastes best if made a few weeks in advance - the flavour improves with time.

Recipe adapted from The Margaret Powell Cookery Book
(C) Margaret Powell and Leigh Crutchley 1970
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SharonCb

I've always made my own mincemeat using beef & suet. I'm a bit typing challenged right now but if you don't mind waiting a couple days I'll start working on it & post??? It's great!

/tricia

I also made homemade mincemeat for Dad, using an old Farm Journal recipe. It made a lot, so I cut it in half and it still made a lot! We never added the brandy because I never had any.

Mincemeat

4 pounds lean beef, cooked, then ground
1 pound ground suet (ItÂs important to get real suet; it doesnÂt taste the same with other kinds of fat. YouÂll have to ask a butcher.)
8 pounds green cooking apples, peeled and chopped
2 pounds raisins
2 pounds currants
4 pounds brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon allspice
1 quart cider (or you can use 1 pint frozen cider concentrate)
Vinegar to taste (or use the zest and juice of 1 lemon)
3 cups brandy (optional)
Combine all ingredients except brandy. Heat in microwave on medium for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add brandy.

Dad loved the traditional mincemeat with the beef in it, but when Nancy (wizardnm) gave me a jar of this stuff, I never looked back. It makes awesome cookie filling, great pies, but mostly I eat it out of the jar. Another Farm Journal Recipe:

Old-Time Pear Mincemeat

From: Freezing & Canning Cookbook, Prized Recipes from the Farms of America, Edited by Nell B. Nichols, Farm Journal, Inc.

7 lbs. ripe Bartlett pears
1 lemon
2 (1 lb.) pkgs. seedless raisins
6 3/4 c. sugar
1 c. vinegar
1 T. cloves
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. nutmeg
1 T. allspice
1 tsp. ginger

Core and quarter pears.

Cut lemon into quarters, removing seeds.

Put pears, lemon and raisins through food chopper.

Combine remaining ingredients in large kettle. Add chopped fruit mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat; simmer 40 minutes.

Pack at once in hot pint jars. Adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath (212°F.) 25 minutes.

Remove jars from canner and complete seals unless closures are self-sealing type. Makes 9 pints.

Which reminds me that I still haven't canned a single pear this year, no preserves, no mincemeat, nothing. I gotta get moving!

Annie

Thanks everyone. I think everyone has their "own" recipe. I am compiling them all. I think Grandma used pork....she would never have had beef on hand. She saved the bits from cooking the hog's head when they butchered.

Tricia, don't push yourself. I will be watching for it when you can post it. I am under no pressure to get it made. Just one of those things I thought of. I made the candied orange peel a couple of days ago. I have never done that before.

Sharon, were the tarts just made with regular pastry. They look wonderful.

Annie, I wonder how the meatless one would be with just apples? Too bad I didn't have lots of leftover green tomatoes and I could have substituted them.

glenda

Glenda.... Yes at that time I didn't have the recipe for the lard pastry that I use now, so it would have been a hot water pastry (not sure if I still have that recipe) which is what I used then.

SharonCb

I have great-grandma's pork mincemeat (using the pork from two hogsheads, as I remember) and also a delicious fruit mince (not mincemeat) calling for dried apricots, cherries, dates, golden raisins, currants, apple juice, orange juice, brandy, sherry and fresh apples and pears with brown sugar and assorted spices.

I've also made and canned venison mincemeat, but not for some time.

I will be happy to share any recipes.

Carol

OK, Carol, please share. I bet you are from the south originally....not everyone knows about cooking hog's heads!

I am making a portfolio of all these different recipes. So far, you and I are the only ones who has heard of using pork.

Sorry for the delay. I tried posting this recipe yesterday but for some reason GardenWeb wouldn't let me.

I have not made this recipe myself, so cannot speak to its excellence, though looking at it I can see it has promise.

You want tender moderately fatty pork, like shoulder, not the dry lean pork common in today's chops and tenderloin. If you have access to heritage pigs, that would be great. One hog's head will yield 5-7 pounds of meat.

This recipe, like many old recipes, has incredible levels of sugar, which is why I might start with half and work from there.

Mincemeat
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 hog's heads, well-cooked and cold
2 pounds dried apples
2 pounds raisins
1 pound dried peaches
1 box currants
2 quarts cranberries
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
8 cups syrup [I assume cane or corn syrup]
7 cups sugar
6 cups fruit juice of any kind [apple cider is usual]

Cut off thick part of fat at top of head before cooking. [Cook, cool, and pick off meat.]

Cook cranberries in half gallon of water. Run through colander. [Personally I wouldn't bother since they'll be ground and cooked anyway.]

Don't cook [dried] fruit. Wash and let drain.
Run all [meat, dried fruits, cranberries] through a food chopper.

Mix all together, add spice & juice [and sweeteners] and cook until thick. [Can add half sweeteners at beginning and near end add additional for preferred taste and thickness. Continue cooking long enough to dissolve sugar granules.]

The original instructions say to "Can in sterilized jars and seal." You don't want to do that.

Carol

I have never made mince meat. a local church would have a fund raiser each fall and make and sell mincemeat from a secret recipe....alas the owner of the recipe retired to Florida and I am without a source....and looking for a good one.
Linda c

My recipe is very similar as Annie's. I make it and can it during the pear season. Got it from my Mom over 50 tears ago. It tastes like mincemeat to me-and fewer calories. Try it.