I am seeking a milder recipe for mince pie - the non-meat variety. I am the only one in the family who likes the New England traditional at full strength and would like to make it as one of many for Christmas. Alternatively, a way to cut the mix would also be considered. Done as a custard, perhaps? In the end I may just cut the listed spices in half and see how that goes.
And I may still end up eating all of it over a two week period myself anyway.
10 comments:
I'm not a big fan of mincemeat, but I'd try the custard version.
My mother canned vegetarian mincemeat. As a helper running the manual grinder, I recall there being a lot of green tomatoes.We had mincemeat pies Thanksgiving and Christmas. Outside the holidays we used mincemeat in mincemeat bars. Delicious. I don't believe I have ever eaten a mincemeat pie that contained meat.
I have cooked mincemeat bars using store-bought packaged mincemeat - dehydrated that had to be added to hot water. I don't recall much difference in flavor of mincemeat bars using my mother's canned mincemeat or the packaged mincemeat. As such, milder versus full spice doesn't ring a bell. I suspect that I grew up on full-spiced.
I will ask my sister if she has the recipe for making mincemeat.
I've never had mince pie. What does mince taste like? Is the meat minced, or just beaten about the head and shoulders with at least 70% accuracy?
My mother could make any kind of pie from scratch, but for mincemeat she just used a jar of Nonesuch mincemeat (none of that Cross & Blackwell stuff, thank you very much), with the addition of one sour apple, diced fine. The apple cuts the sweetness and the spice, and has the added benefit of adding a little bulk. I just made a pie with a Granny Smith apple for Thanksgiving, and enjoyed it a lot. However, as you say, I did wind up eating most of it myself, and I won't be doing it again for a while.
I don't understand the hate on mincemeat. What is there not to like about apples, raisins, and spice. Must be a response to the name.
Mincemeat (the ordinary American veg variety) was always a favorite with my father, my sisters, and me. I never really knew anyone else who liked it. It's very much like a tart, heavily spiced apple pie, also one of my favorites. I've never tried to make it from scratch, but even the commercial varieties are good.
Maybe it's that time of year, when baking impulses become irresistible. This recipe also has been on my mind to try: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/271049/kouign-amann/. Now, if I'm to try old-fashioned french fries as well as traditional mincemeat pie, I may have to send off for some suet, definitely not something my local grocery store runs to.
I've never had mincemeat pie either, but I looked up a recipe this morning. Anything that starts with a pound of venison can't be bad. I might play around with it myself.
One way to make the mince pie more "mild" might be to add an apple or 2, finely chopped.
Maybe I'll try an omnivore's version of mincemeat pie this year. Old style.
People get really exercised about what things are called. The original was minced meat, usually game, with heavy spice, fruit (apples and raisins/sultanas were big), and citron. It traveled from England to America in different regional versions. With meat, it was a sweet-savoury combo that people liked. Or at least said they did. Very likely, they liked it if they grew up with it. The British now think it is a ridiculous anachronism to refer to anything with meat as a mince pie, because their version is now a small sweet pastry. Looking at the ingredients of those, they look like a close relative of Christmas pudding or plum pudding.
The meat versions hung on in America, rather unevenly. I think it held on in rural New England and Appalachia longest. In the cities it increasingly became an apple/raisin/spices thing, which is what I grew up with. The Nonesuch commercial version is fine. As it is a dessert rather than a side dish now, it is often served with "hard sauce," which is sugar, butter, brandy flavoring.
As you did not grow up with it, you might consider making the pie filling separately and using it as a condiment for your venison or boar.
The above comment is directed to Grim. Richard nudged in while I was writing it.
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