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Lemon Mince Pies (Squeeze the juice of six)
807. Squeeze the juice of six lemons, boil the rinds, pulp, and kernels together, in three or four waters, till the bitterness is gone, and they are quite tender; beat it fine in a mortar, and when cold add to it two pounds of currants, one pound of raisins stoned and chopped, two pounds of sugar, and two pounds of suet; mix all together, and pour in the lemon juice, with a glass of brandy and whatever dried fruits may be liked.
Another. Take a large lemon, strain out the juice and boil the rind and pulp till tender, beat it smooth in a mortar, and put to it one pound of currants, half a pound of beef suet, half a pound of moist sugar, the juice of the lemon, a glass of wine and one of brandy: if the lemons are not very large, put two to one pound of fruit.
Two versions of a lemon mincemeat — one on a grand scale, one scaled to a single lemon. Neither is baked here; both are fillings meant to be spooned into pastry cases.
- The hinge is the water changesBoiling the rinds and pulp in "three or four waters" means draining and refreshing the pot each time the water turns yellow and bitter, roughly 10-15 minutes a change. Skip this and the pith makes the whole batch acrid; no amount of sugar will cover it.
- KernelsThe kernels are the lemon pips. The recipe boils them with the rind and pounds everything together; if you would rather not have hard bits in the paste, pick them out before pounding, though the original does not say to.
- Mortar workA food processor does in thirty seconds what the mortar did in ten minutes. Pulse the drained rind to a coarse paste, not a purée, and let it cool fully before it meets the sugar and suet.
- SuetBeef suet is shredded raw kidney fat, sold packaged (sometimes as vegetable suet) or asked for at a butcher. Grate it frozen if you buy it in the piece. Butter can stand in but the filling will be softer and shorter-keeping.
- Moist sugarIn the second version this means an unrefined soft brown sugar; light or dark muscovado is the closest thing now. The first version's plain "sugar" can be white or brown to taste.
- A glass of wine or brandyRead a wineglass as about 2 fl oz, a scant quarter cup. Sherry or Madeira suits it better than table wine.
- Yield and keepingThe large version makes roughly 8 lb of mincemeat, enough for five or six dozen small pies; the second makes about 2 lb. Pack it into clean jars and press down to exclude air. The sugar and spirit do most of the preserving, but this mixture is fat-heavy and lightly spirited, so refrigeration is the safer course.
- Baking the piesThe recipe stops at the filling and says nothing about an oven. Treat it as ordinary mince pie filling in shortcrust or puff cases, baked in a hot oven only until the pastry is set and coloured; the filling needs no more than heating through.