Mince meat and finished pies. Just dried fruit, nuts, glace fruits, spices, orange zest and juice, butter and brandy.

English husband plus I lived there in the 70 - 80’s for 12 years so mince pies are part of my Christmas traditions. I make them very small with a top and bottom also with the addition of some lard (and butter) in the pastry. Robertson’s mince tastes right to me.

Mince pies are the one dessert my Wife and I agree on. Make one for Thanksgiving and another for Xmas. Have tossed other desserts from both holidays but never a mince pie. I will say that it took hard sauce to get her to try them but it is no longer required

Ah, memories! Seventy years ago, my mother made homemade mincemeat because my dad loved it for the holidays. She mixed in a huge yellow bowl and put it in the fridge. I, aged four, would sneak it by the handful when she was out of the kitchen and stuff myself.... until she caught me!

Don't think I've had it since, lol.

Yes, my Grandma made mincemeat pies, but hers were a big pie with beef, apples and I don't know what all. I loved them.

Sue

My mother always made and canned her own mincemeat for pies. I liked her mincemeat pies best when she added fresh apples!

I like to make mince pies for Christmas. I love mincemeat but don't make it -- I buy Nonesuch which is readily available in my town. This year, I even bought a traditional mince pie pan to bake them in!

What is the traditional meat for a mincemeat pie? I've never had one because I did not like the sound of it. For some reason, I always assumed it would have organ meat, such as liver and kidneys.

Actual meat hasn't been a part of mincemeat for years!! Unless you count suet as meat. And even that, while included in prepared mincemeats, is rarely an ingredient in modern homemade versions, substituting vegetable shortening or even butter in its place.

Older, traditional versions (15th-19th century recipes) used either beef or venison and suet. Now it is just apples or pears, dried fruits and citrus peel and/or dried citron. And of course spices and a slosh of brandy, rum or other liquor.

I think the one with meat sounds much more interesting that that with all the sweet fruit.

The old one using meat has a promise of providing a much more complex flavor to the palate.

However, I suspect that the original mince pie was using sweet and spices to disguise the fact that fresh meat was hard to keep back in those days and this may have been a way to preserve it with sugar and spices and fat, or to cover up the taste of it.

Sure it much have an interesting history.

The sugar and the spices were a treasure back in those old days. That may be why it became associated with a special holiday. It may have been quite rare.

I have had it once or twice made with only the fruit. I thought that it was just too sweet and too rich and tasted too much like just raisins to be very interesting.

My whole family loves mincemeat pies and has for years and years. When jars of mincemeat are available, we usually stock up so we can have a pie anytime we want - not just during the holiday season.

Does anyone have a good recipe for the filling (proportions at least)?

What's a mincemeat pan other than a pie pan?

I like this recipe: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/mincemeat/

The dried fruits can be altered to suit your tastes or what's on hand......I've also used dried figs, currants and/or craisins and have subbed pears in place of apples. And I always add candied citron and some - not much - candied ginger if I have it on hand. I like it when aged (much like a British Christmas/plum pudding or fruitcake) and the liquor is a must in my book! But then I like boozy desserts :-)

"What's a mincemeat pan other than a pie pan?"

I have no idea! A pie pan is perfect or since I like bite sized morsels, I use a mini muffin tin. Or any individual tart pans.

Thanks, Gardengal! I think it would be nice to have a different pie.

I looked up the mince pie pans that Martha mentioned, and there were some that just looked like slightly shallow muffin tins and others were like muffin tins but with rounded bottoms.

I'm not sure I'd like it with suet, but I have some duck fat.. .:) I wonder if vacuum sealing would help with absorption, since I only have a week?

A week before Christmas, I'd just go with the imported jarred stuff.......but with some amendments. Probably some chopped up fresh fruit, orange zest and the aforementioned liquor. The results will be perfectly acceptable and the flavors adequately married.

It really needs a good month to 6 weeks to age properly and mature so maybe save the homemade for next year :-)

Oh yes, I grew up eating mincemeat pie. Grandma made mincemeat cookies too, which I liked even better than the pie. It was kind of like those date/nut pinwheels, but with mincemeat filling instead. Her mincemeat actually had beef, and some beef suet. She also canned something called "Pear Mincemeat" from the Farm Journal Canning cookbook and I liked that better, full of pears and spice.

One of my co-workers loved mincemeat pie and asked for one every year for his birthday. I did use None-Such in the jar for his, and he always ate it.

Neely, yours looks delicious!

Annie

I grew up with mincemeat pie and English plum pudding every Christmas. I love both, but didn't keep up the tradition when I married, as DH didn't care for it and we were away from family. Consequently, my kids didn't grow up with it, and don't care for raisins, so doubt they would care for it. We did make homemade mincemeat with beef and suet. That might be a good project now with the isolation. I could share with siblings who love both-curbside, of course!

I think I could do a credible job of forcing it. I've done similar for other things and know some tricks. I'll take the advice to wait until next year, though, especially since Mother rejected the roast beef dinner.

I checked the stores. They mostly show minced meat instead of mincemeat, and a jar of garlic for ‘mince’. One store has a could kinds of jars of mincemeat, not the approved brand, neither of which look appealing, besides jars not really being my thing when I have all the ingredients. I might just make some kind of crumble with similar ingredients.

If you don't have suet, use butter.

Gardengal, that recipe looks good, and I most of the ingredients in L.A. and will try to make it when we go back there for New Year's. Instead of raisins, I will have to use chopped dates, but I do have oranges on my tree there. I also still have apples on my apple tree and lots of dried apples. Instead of dried apricots, I would use the dried bananas that I just made, and I think I would like to substitute Calvados for the brandy, although I have both. Calvados would intensify the apple flavor. I had no idea that apples were the main ingredient.

The only mincemeat pie I’ve had is my cousin’s, she makes it every year for Thanksgiving. She definitely puts beef in hers.

My mom made it from a jar of Non Such mincemeat every Christmas. When I moved out on my own and was a vegetarian, I left out the suet and meat. Basically an apple, raisin, walnut pie with all the spices. I stopped making it many years ago because I was the only one who ate it. I don't need the calories, but I do miss it especially at this time of year.

Lars, apples aren't the main ingredient. .......

Here's the Mary Berry recipe I used as a guide

https://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/special-mincemeat.

I can't imagine wanting a bite if it had meat in it. It's very sweet!

IC, what is “mixed peel”? Is mixed spice what we call pumpkin pie spice? Or just mix that much of whatever you like? I mean, I'm fine doing my own thing. I just like understanding the recipe. :)

You would never know my recipe has beef in it--it's sweet, also.

Mixed peel is candied peel, usually from oranges and lemons.

This is what I used. Candied fruit.