
Stir-up Sunday, the day on which it is traditional to make Christmas cakes, puds and mincemeat, falls this year on 24 November.
A note incidentally for North American readers: ‘mincemeat’ here refers to a dense sticky fruit mixture, and not actual meat; a few years ago a renowned website got this wrong and the resulting photograph – of a decidedly meaty dessert - went viral. Mincemeat is used principally to make small pies or as an addition to larger ones, for instance apple pies.
One of the most popular recipes I ever wrote is for wonderfully crumbly mince pies, which you’ll find here. I find that for the quantity of mincemeat here - 3 jars - I need one-and-a-half times the crumbly pastry recipe, resulting in about 30 small pies.
You can customize this recipe according to taste. If you dislike peel, as many people seem to, replace with glacé cherries or another crystallized fruit of your choice.
And in case British readers should need reminding, it’s considered good luck to eat a mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas, namely 25 December till 5 January.
Makes 3 big jars of mincemeat
INGREDIENTS
700g dried fruit – mix of raisins, currants and sultanas
small Bramley or eating apple, peeled and chopped
200g suet or vegetarian suet
50g toasted flaked almonds, chopped
100g peel (see step 2)
25g crystallized or stem ginger
25g crystallized pineapple
150g light or dark muscovado sugar
good pinch of salt, nutmeg and mixed spice
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
about 5tbsp of brandy, rum, whisky or sherry
METHOD
1. Take half the raisins, currants and sultanas and whizz them in a food processor, till they are roughly chopped. This will give your mincemeat a lovely oozy texture. Put in a large bowl with the remaining raisins, currants and sultanas, apple, suet and nuts.
2. If you are using chopped peel, add that to the bowl. If you are using whole peel (which you can find in good delis - orange, lemon or citron are all excellent) chop it finely along with the ginger and pineapple. Add to the bowl along with the sugar and spices. Add just half the zest and juice at this point, and stir all together.
3. Stir in 3-4tbsp of your chosen liquor and mix well. You are aiming for a thick, glistening mixture, so add more liquor if necessary. The flavour will take a couple of days to balance out, but you can make a few adjustments at this point. If it tastes a bit dull, add a pinch more salt and spice. If you feel it is too sweet, add more zest. If it is a little dry, add more juice. Put into jars and refrigerate. After two days, it is ready, and it will keep for six months.
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