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Lemon Mince Pie
Two cups of sugar, one cup of molasses, two cups of boiled laundry starch, four lemons, one pound of raisins chopped. Boil the rind of two lemons and chop fine.
— Mrs. Charles F. Dunn
This is a mock mincemeat — no meat, no suet, no apples, and the body comes from starch paste rather than fruit. The receipt gives quantities and nothing else, so the assembly and baking are left to the cook.
- "Boiled laundry starch" means cooked cornstarch"Boiled laundry starch" means cooked plain starch -- around 1900 laundry starch was generally wheat, corn or rice starch sold in lumps or powder, and the plain grades were close enough to culinary starch to be used interchangeably, though some commercial laundry preparations also contained borax, blueing or gum. Modern boxed and spray laundry starches contain borax, biocides and fragrance and are not food; use plain cornstarch cooked with water into a thick, translucent paste and cooled -- roughly 3 tablespoons cornstarch per cup of water will give the two cups called for.
- The lemonsFour lemons most likely means the juice and pulp of all four, seeds removed; the receipt does not say. The rind of only two is used, and it is boiled first: simmering the peels 10 to 15 minutes, changing the water once if they are thick-skinned, draws the bitterness out of the pith before chopping.
- MolassesUse unsulphured dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is far more bitter than the household molasses of the period. It supplies the colour and much of the depth of an orthodox mince.
- RaisinsA pound of raisins chopped, seeded muscats or Thompson seedless. Chopping matters more than it sounds: whole raisins in this filling sit in the starch as separate lumps rather than melting into it.
- It needs cooking before it goes in the crustCooking it before it goes in the crust -- The receipt gives no method. Combining everything and simmering gently 10 to 15 minutes, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the raisins have plumped, gives a filling less likely to weep under the top crust.
- Spice, if you want it to read as minceThe receipt gives none. A teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon each of cloves and nutmeg brings it closer to the spicing of other mock mince receipts without changing the character.
- Yield and bakingThe quantities make roughly enough for two 9-inch double-crust pies. The receipt gives no baking directions; treat it as any double-crust pie -- 425F for 15 minutes to set the bottom crust, then 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the vents bubble thickly.
- KeepingUnlike a true brandied mincemeat, this has no alcohol and no long-keeping properties. Refrigerate the cooked filling and use it within a few days.
Mock mincemeats multiplied in American community cookbooks through the late nineteenth century, when a household might want a mince pie in a season with no beef to spare, no cider working, and — in temperance-minded circles — no brandy in the pantry. The usual substitutes were green tomatoes or soda crackers, and, more unusually, as here, plain starch, all of them supplying the thick, dark, chewy body that the eater's memory would fill in as mincemeat. Lemon versions were popular enough to be a recognised type; the sharp juice does the work that cider vinegar or sour apples do in an orthodox mince. That a contributor could write "two cups of boiled laundry starch" without further explanation suggests how readily starch moved between the wash-house and the pudding basin: it was one commodity, bought by the pound.