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Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and often
beef suet Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys. Suet has a melting point of between 45 °C and 50 °C (113 °F and 122 °F) and congelation between 37 °C and 40 °C (98.6&nbs ...
, usually used as a
pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
or pastry filling. Mincemeat formerly contained
meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
, notably beef or venison. Many modern recipes replace the suet with vegetable shortening. Mincemeat is found in the
Anglosphere The Anglosphere is a group of English-speaking world, English-speaking nations that share historical and cultural ties with England, and which today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in d ...
.


Etymology

The "mince" in mincemeat comes from the Middle English ''mincen,'' and the Old French ''mincier'' both traceable to the
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
''minutiare'', meaning ''chop finely''. The word mincemeat is an adaptation of an earlier term ''minced meat,'' meaning finely chopped meat. Meat was also a term for food in general, not only animal flesh.


Variants and history

English recipes from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries describe a fermented mixture of meat and fruit used as a
pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
filling. These early recipes included vinegars and wines, but by the 18th century, distilled spirits, frequently
brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
, were being used instead. The use of spices like
clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
, nutmeg, mace and
cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
was common in late medieval and renaissance meat dishes. The increase of sweetness from added
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
made mincemeat less a savoury dinner course and helped to direct its use toward desserts.


16th-century recipe

Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne mynced & seasoned with pepper and salte and a lytel saffron to colour it / suet or marrow a good quantitie / a lytell vynegre / pruynes / great reasons / and dates / take the fattest of the broath of powdred beefe. And if you will have paest royall / take butter and yolkes of egges & so to temper the floure to make the paest.
Pies of mutton or beef must be finely minced and seasoned with pepper and salt, and a little saffron to colour it. dda good quantity of suet or marrow, a little vinegar, prunes, raisins and dates. ut inthe fattest of the broth of salted beef. And, if you want Royal pastry, take butter and egg yolks and ombine them withflour to make the paste. In the mid- to late eighteenth century, mincemeat in Europe had become associated with old-fashioned, rural, or homely foods. Victorian England rehabilitated the preparation as a traditional Yuletide treat.


19th-century recipe

''Ingredients'' — 2 lb. of raisins, 3 lb. currants, lb. of lean beef, 3 lb. of beef suet, 2 lb. of moist sugar, 2 oz. of citron, 2 oz. of candied lemon-peel, 2 oz. of candied orange-peel, 1 small nutmeg, 1 pottle of apples, the rind of 2 lemons, the juice of 1, pint of brandy. ''Mode'' — Stone and cut the raisins once or twice across, but do not chop them; wash, dry, and pick the currants free from stalks and grit, and mince the beef and suet, taking care the latter is chopped very fine; slice the citron and candied peel, grate the nutmeg, and pare, core, and mince the apples; mince the lemon-peel, strain the juice, and when all the ingredients are thus prepared, mix them well together, adding the brandy when the other things are well blended; press the whole into a jar, carefully exclude the air, and the mincemeat will be ready for use in a fortnight.


Apple mincemeat

By the late 19th century, "apple mincemeat" was recommended as a "hygienic" alternative, using apples, suet, currants, brown sugar, raisins,
allspice Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry (botany), berry of ''Pimenta dioica'', a Canopy (forest), midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, ...
, orange juice, lemons, mace and apple cider, but no meat. A recipe for apple mincemeat appears in a 1910 issue of '' The Irish Times'', made with apples, suet, currants, sugar, raisins, orange juice, lemons, spice and
brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
.


20th century

By the mid-twentieth century, most mincemeat recipes did not include meat, but might include animal fat in the form of suet or butter, or alternatively solid vegetable fats, making it vegan. Some recipes continue to include venison, minced beef sirloin or minced heart, along with dried fruit, spices, chopped apple, and fresh citrus peel, Zante currants, candied fruits, citron, and brandy, rum, or other
liquor Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard ...
. Mincemeat is aged to deepen flavours, with alcohol changing the overall texture of the mixture by breaking down the meat proteins. Preserved mincemeat may be stored for up to ten years. Mincemeat can be produced at home. Commercial preparations, primarily without meat, packaged in jars, foil-lined boxes, or tins, are commonly available. Mince pies and tarts are frequently consumed during the Christmas holiday season. In the northeast United States, mincemeat pies are also a traditional part of the Thanksgiving holiday. Like other pies, mince pies are sometimes served with cheese, notably Cheddar.James Beard, ''Beard on Food'', 1974, , p. 243


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Cunningham, Marion. ''The Fannie Farmer Cookbook''. Alfred A. Knopf: 1979. . * Kiple, Kenneth F. and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas. ''The Cambridge World History of Food''. Cambridge University Press: 2000. .


External links

* {{Cookbook-inline, Mincemeat_Tart, l1=Mincemeat Food ingredients Fruit dishes