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Mince Meat (II)
Mrs. J. M. Durand.
Two pounds of raisins, one of currants, one of suet, two and one-half of sugar, one-quarter of citron, one-eighth of cinnamon, two chopped pippins, three lemons, two nutmegs; wine, brandy, and cloves to taste.
This is a filling, not a finished dish: the list gives proportions for a large crock of mincemeat meant to be packed down, matured, and spooned into pies over several weeks. Every bare number is pounds.
- Reading the quantitiesThe unnamed units are all pounds, following on from the first line: 2 lb raisins, 1 lb currants, 1 lb suet, 2 1/2 lb sugar, 1/4 lb citron, 1/8 lb (2 oz) cinnamon. That works out to roughly 8 lb of mincemeat before the spirits.
- The cinnamon is the one figure to questionTwo ounces of ground cinnamon in 8 lb of fruit is aggressive by modern palates. Start with a third of it, taste, and add more before the mixture goes into the crock.
- CurrantsZante currants inadequately known today not fresh red currants. They are small dried grapes, sold as "currants" in the dried fruit aisle.
- SuetBeef suet, the hard kidney fat, chopped or grated fine. Butchers will still supply it on request; shredded packaged suet is the usual substitute, and it is far easier to handle if kept frozen until you grate it.
- PippinsA firm tart apple Granny Smith or Northern Spy stands in well. Two apples is a light hand for this volume; three or four large ones will not hurt the balance.
- LemonsUse both the grated zest and the juice of all three, and discard the pith. Some period cooks boiled the whole lemons soft and chopped them, peel and all, which is worth doing if you want the bitter edge.
- Wine, brandy and cloves to tasteThe spirits are the preservative as much as the flavouring; pour in enough to make the mixture visibly wet. Cloves are potent; a teaspoon of ground cloves is plenty.
- Keeping itPack into clean jars or a crock, press down so the fruit sits under its own liquid, cover, and hold in the refrigerator or a cold cellar. Top up with brandy if the surface dries. Discard any batch that smells of mould rather than fruit and spirit.
- Yield and bakingAbout 8 lb of filling. The book gives no baking directions at all; by modern practice, fill a lined pie plate, cover, and bake hot at first, then moderate, until the crust colours.
Meatless "mince meat" of this kind was common by the 1870s, and this recipe is one of them: nothing here comes from an animal but the suet. The older English form, descended from the medieval spiced meat pies that gave us the Christmas mince pie, called for boiled beef or ox tongue chopped with the fruit; meat versions and meatless ones circulated side by side well past this date, and suet in turn was later displaced by butter and vegetable shortening. The Home Cook Book (1877) was compiled from contributions by "ladies of Toronto and chief cities and towns in Canada" and sold for the Hospital for Sick Children, which is why so many entries carry a donor's name and so few carry full instructions. Recipes of this size were meant to be made in late autumn and drawn on through the winter, the brandy doing the work a refrigerator does now.