Going Native with Mincemeat
After seven years living in Blighty, I've finally gone native and made my own mincemeat.
My grandfather emigrated to the United States from England more than a century ago, and carried the mince pie tradition with him -- so I was not totally unfamiliar with the stuff. But it's quite a big deal here at Christmas time...You can't have a coffee morning or a Carol Service without mince pies.
So if only for the sake of politeness I've eaten more mince in the past seven years than in the previous five decades of life.
Until now, when I've been called upon to bring mince pies to one of these socials, I've relied on Mrs. Tesco's "cheap and cheerful" pies (as the English would say to take the edge off plain old "cheap"). The Dear Husband, although English, detests mince pies, so what's the point of going to any extra trouble? Besides, I was always fearful of what the the "meat" in "mincemeat" might mean and thought it best to carry on in ignorance.
But then my friend Helena, from "Incredible Edible Todmorden" posted a recipe for "Beetroot and Chocolate Mincemeat." No actual meat involved! I adjusted the recipe downwards to a size I hope will cover a dozen mini-pies, which I'll be making tomorrow.
Here's my scaled-down version of Helena's recipe. I've mixed these ingredients together and am letting them cogitate overnight:
100 g. raisins
100 g currants
100 g. dried apricots
150 g brown sugar
30 g glace cherries
zest and juice from ½ lemon and ½ orange
1 peeled grated, chopped beetroot
½ peeled, finely diced cooking apple
40 g. chocolate chips
1 ½ teaspoons honey
1T mixed spice
1T brandy or other liqueur (optional)
I used a bit of Cointreau and cognac for the last ingredient, and small amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, cloves, ginger, and cardamom for my "mixed spice." Helena assures me that the chocolate effectively replaces suet that would traditionally be used in mincemeat.
She also recommends that the mince have a month to cogitate, but I'm supposed to have my mini-pies ready for the Carol Service on Friday. So we'll see tomorrow how these turn out and whether I'll have to return to Mrs. Tesco again this year.