Mince Pies

[Dannie Boy]

Good, if you don't like mincemeat, and it can be an acquired taste, by all means have an apple pie. However, don't call it a mince pie

EH? Now where did I mention apple or a dislike of mincemeat? Come along BB - read the post. I love mincemeat - hence having the traditional recipes of my Mam or Gran..... Good God man - read! I might even send you the recipe!

I’m waiting for your recipe and thinking it might actually contain a % of apple in it - I’m certain one of our family recipes contained apple amongst other ingredients (alcohol being one - cider)!!

[dtaai-maai]

One good thing about being back in the UK - some GREAT MINCE PIES!! Sorry.....

I have a weekly Zoom catch up with UK relatives. Being Christmas, our last 2 get togethers have involved Christmas jumpers and mince pies.

Both times there has been amazement that we in Thailand have mince pies, but quite disturbingly they ask about the Thai filling. It seems that in the UK, traditional mincemeat is being replaced with other fillings. FFS, e.g. a mince pie filled with apple is an apple pie. They are quite gobsmacked that my pie is filled with traditional mincemeat, and only one other on the Zoom call had a pie filled filled with the traditional filling.

Another Christmas tradition that is being watered down.

Is this just another silly BB rant or is there some background to it? A mince pie filled with mincemeat is a mince pie, and one of the principal ingredients of mincemeat in all the recipes I've ever seen is apple. Where are these apple-filled mince pies? Certainly not in any shop I've been into... (which isn't many this Christmas, admittedly! ).

I'm back, folks, and feeling mean, Christmas or no Christmas!

[migrant]

I'm back, folks, and feeling mean, Christmas or no Christmas!

Welcome back!!

[Nereus]

For those handicapped reading English, my original post clearly states: "Christmas Mince Pies" in the link.
Which I ommitted to include in the heading, not realising that it is in fact Christmas time.

[pharvey]

I’m waiting for your recipe and thinking it might actually contain a % of apple in it - I’m certain one of our family recipes contained apple amongst other ingredients (alcohol being one - cider)!!

In all fairness, I remember there being both apple and pear - but don't want BB to get excited! I shall dig out the recipe over Christmas.....

I'm back, folks, and feeling mean, Christmas or no Christmas!

Oh, FFS Here we go again - it was quiet for a while!

[Big Boy]

Is this just another silly BB rant or is there some background to it?

Yes, just a festive rant. However, are my relatives winding me up, or are mince pies still filled with traditional mincemeat?

I think there were 9 of us at the Zoom meeting, but only 2 household's pies were filled with traditional mincemeat. So only one out of my UK sample of 8 or 12.5% were using traditional filling. The others had 'counterfeit' mince pies.

I have no problem with people eating pies with another filling (apple was the first thing that came into my head), but don't call them mince pies. I don't like turkey, but I won't be calling my roast beef turkey tomorrow because its Christmas.

[Edit] Welcome back by the way. I hope you're feeling better.

[dtaai-maai]

[Edit] Welcome back by the way. I hope you're feeling better.

father-jack-feck-off-to-the-anti-fun-police.jpg (321.36 KiB) Viewed 379 times

[Big Boy]

Good to see you looking so good

[joelle]

Source Wikipedia

Mincemeat / Not to be confused with minced meat.
This article is about the fruit-based food.
Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and sometimes beef suet, beef, or venison. Originally, mincemeat always contained meat. Many modern recipes contain beef suet, though vegetable shortening is sometimes used in its place. Variants of mincemeat are found in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, northern Europe, Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. In other contexts mincemeat refers to minced or ground meat.

Etymology: The "mince" in mincemeat comes from the Middle English mincen, and the Old French mincier both traceable to the Vulgar Latin minutiare, meaning chop finely. The word mincemeat is an adaptation of an earlier term minced meat, meaning finely chopped meat. Meat was also a term for food in general, not only animal flesh.
"Making mincemeat" of someone means defeating them easily and soundly at something.

Variants and history
English recipes from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries describe a fermented mixture of meat and fruit used as a pie filling. These early recipes included vinegars and wines, but by the 18th century, distilled spirits, frequently brandy, were being used instead. The use of spices like clove, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon was common in late medieval and renaissance meat dishes. The increase of sweetness from added sugar made mincemeat less a savoury dinner course and helped to direct its use toward desserts.

16th-century recipe
Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne mynced & seasoned with pepper and salte and a lytel saffron to colour it / suet or marrow a good quantitie / a lytell vynegre / pruynes / great reasons / and dates / take the fattest of the broath of powdred beefe. And if you will have paest royall / take butter and yolkes of egges & so to temper the floure to make the paest.

Pies of mutton or beef must be finely minced and seasoned with pepper and salt, and a little saffron to colour it. Add a good quantity of suet or marrow, a little vinegar, prunes, raisins and dates. Put in the fattest of the broth of salted beef. And, if you want Royal pastry, take butter and egg yolks and combine them with flour to make the paste.

In the mid- to late eighteenth century, mincemeat in Europe had become associated with old-fashioned, rural, or homely foods. Victorian England rehabilitated the preparation as a traditional Yuletide treat.

19th-century recipe
Ingredients — 2 lb. of raisins, 3 lb. currants, 1+1⁄2 lb. of lean beef, 3 lb. of beef suet, 2 lb. of moist sugar, 2 oz. of citron, 2 oz. of candied lemon-peel, 2 oz. of candied orange-peel, 1 small nutmeg, 1 pottle of apples, the rind of 2 lemons, the juice of 1, 1⁄2 pint of brandy.
Mode — Stone and cut the raisins once or twice across, but do not chop them; wash, dry, and pick the currants free from stalks and grit, and mince the beef and suet, taking care the latter is chopped very fine; slice the citron and candied peel, grate the nutmeg, and pare, core, and mince the apples; mince the lemon-peel, strain the juice, and when all the ingredients are thus prepared, mix them well together, adding the brandy when the other things are well blended; press the whole into a jar, carefully exclude the air, and the mincemeat will be ready for use in a fortnight.

Apple mincemeat
By the late 19th century, "apple mincemeat" was recommended as a "hygienic" alternative, using apples, suet, currants, brown sugar, raisins, allspice, orange juice, lemons, mace and apple cider, but no meat.
A recipe for apple mincemeat appears in a 1910 issue of The Irish Times, made with apples, suet, currants, sugar, raisins, orange juice, lemons, spice and brandy.

20th century
By the mid-twentieth century, the term "mincemeat" was used to describe a similar mixture that does not include meat, but that might include animal fat in the form of suet or butter, and could also substitute solid vegetable fats, making it vegetarian and vegan. Many recipes continue to include suet, venison, minced beef sirloin or minced heart, along with dried fruit, spices, chopped apple, and fresh citrus peel, Zante currants, candied fruits, citron, and brandy, rum, or other liquor. Mincemeat is aged to deepen flavours, with alcohol changing the overall texture of the mixture by breaking down the meat proteins. Preserved mincemeat may be stored for up to ten years.
Mincemeat can be produced at home, often using a family recipe that varies by region or ancestry. Commercial preparations, primarily without meat, packaged in jars, foil-lined boxes, or tins, are commonly available.

Mincemeat is frequently consumed during the Christmas holiday season when mince pies or mincemeat tarts are served. In the northeast United States, mincemeat pies are also a traditional part of the Thanksgiving holiday, sometimes served with a piece of cheddar cheese, like apple pie.

[lindosfan1]

Is this just another silly BB rant or is there some background to it?

Yes, just a festive rant. However, are my relatives winding me up, or are mince pies still filled with traditional mincemeat?

I think there were 9 of us at the Zoom meeting, but only 2 household's pies were filled with traditional mincemeat. So only one out of my UK sample of 8 or 12.5% were using traditional filling. The others had 'counterfeit' mince pies.

I have no problem with people eating pies with another filling (apple was the first thing that came into my head), but don't call them mince pies. I don't like turkey, but I won't be calling my roast beef turkey tomorrow because its Christmas.

[Edit] Welcome back by the way. I hope you're feeling better.

I eat a lot of mince pies from different sources (about the only thing I like about Christmas ) I have never had a mince pie that tastes like apple. There may be apple in them but it is not noticable when eating.
What is counterfeit mince may be a different recipe but still should not taste of apple.

[sateeb]

Ebenezer S. here.

If mince pies are that good why is it that you only eat them at Christmas?...bah humbug

[migrant]

I remember having a mince pie when I was a kid. We didn't get many desserts so, even though I had never heard of them, I ate it and enjoyed it.

[derek60]

Can you get mince pies in Hua Hin? My wife loves them but I couldn't find any when we visited pre-pandemic!

[Big Boy]

Even though my question about alternate fillings was light hearted, it was a genuine search for knowledge. I've done my own research via Google, and although there are many counterfeit fillings available, traditional fillings seem to be king. It's just my UK family who have strange tastes

Examples of alternate mince pie fillings that I found included:

- Apple
- Gingerbread fruit mince tarts
- Kiwi coconut cream pies
- Mini lime meringue pies
- Peach and cherry mini pies

I could go on, and yes, I agree they are all viable treats. IMHO a mince pie is a mince pie and a peach and cherry mini pie is a peach and cherry mini pie. Why brand it as an alternative mince pie at Christmas? Is this part of this stupid PC that seems to have taken over the world?

[lindosfan1]

Big Boy wrote

Why brand it as an alternative mince pie at Christmas? Is this part of this stupid PC that seems to have taken over the world?

This is down to advertising. The apple, cherry pies do not sell so well over the christmas period. Labelling as alternative mince pies insinuates it is similar, it should be labelled alternative to.
Have a good christmas.