Mince Meat
6 lbs. of lean fresh beef, boiled tender, chopped fine when cold; 1 lb. suet chopped fine, 2 lbs. seedless raisins, 2 lbs. currants, 2 tbsp. Slade's cinnamon, 1 tbsp. nutmeg, 1 tbsp. cloves, 1 tbsp. allspice, 1 tbsp. salt, 3 lbs. brown sugar, 1 pint vinegar; some of the broth the meat has been boiled in.
— Mrs. G. B. Bellis
A church-supper batch of mincemeat: roughly fourteen pounds of it, enough filling for eight to ten double-crust nine-inch pies. Nothing here is difficult, but the recipe assumes knowledge the cook of 1900 had and did not bother to write down.
- The hinge: moisture and ripeningAdd the broth a cup at a time until the mixture is loose enough to spread but not soupy; it will slacken further as the sugar draws juice from the fruit. Mincemeat is always better after a few days' rest, when the vinegar, spice and sugar have come to terms with the meat.
- Boiling the beefSix pounds of lean beef — shin, chuck or brisket — needs two and a half to three hours at a bare simmer to come genuinely tender. Cool it completely before chopping, as the original says; warm meat shreds and smears instead of cutting cleanly.
- Chopping fineProbably a chopping bowl and chopper, though hand-cranked meat grinders were also in use by 1900. A meat grinder with the coarse plate, or short pulses in a food processor, gives the same texture. Grinding to a paste ruins it.
- SuetRaw beef kidney fat, ordered from a butcher. It is easiest to grate when partly frozen. Packaged shredded suet works; hydrogenated vegetable suet is a common stand-in but gives a duller flavor.
- CurrantsZante currants — small dried grapes — not fresh red currants. Rinse and pick them over; older packaged currants often benefit from a brief soak in hot water or spirits.
- Slade's cinnamonD. & L. Slade Company of Boston was a widely advertised spice packer of the period. Any good ground cinnamon does the job; two tablespoons in a batch this size is restrained.
- VinegarOne pint is two cups. Use cider vinegar, not distilled white, which is harsher. Against three pounds of brown sugar it reads as brightness rather than sourness.
- What is missingNo apples, no citron, no brandy. The omissions are notable for the period and may reflect an economical or temperance-minded kitchen, though the recipe does not say. Chopped tart apples, orange zest or a cup of brandy are all traditional additions if you want them.
- Keeping itThe original assumed a cold cellar and stone crocks. Refrigerate what you will use within a couple of weeks and freeze the rest in pie-sized portions; do not attempt to shelf-store it, since the recipe gives no processing method and the acid and sugar levels are not measured for canning.
- Baking the piesFill a double crust and bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then 350F for 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is brown and the filling bubbles at the vents. The filling is already cooked, so you are only setting the pastry.
Mincemeat began as literal minced meat: medieval and early modern English pies packed chopped beef or mutton with dried fruit, sugar and warm spices, the sweetness and acid serving as much to preserve as to please. Puritan New England eyed the Christmas mince pie with suspicion for its papist associations, but the pie outlasted the objection and became a fixture of American winter baking. By the time this book was compiled meat was already retreating from many mincemeat recipes, which makes Mrs. Bellis's six pounds of beef a conservative, old-fashioned formula. Its scale is the other clue to its origin: the Philathea classes were young women's Bible-study groups in the Baraca-Philathea movement, and their cookbooks were fundraising collections written by and for women who routinely cooked for a full church hall rather than a family of four.