Mince pies and all that
“An invention of the Scarlet Whore of Babylon, an Hodge-Podge of Superstition, Popery, the Devil and all his Works”.
Gentleman's Magazine 1733
I wasn't going to bother with mince pies this year because I thought the people who would be celebrating Christmas with us this year would not be interested. But then David asked whether I was going to make some, because, to him, this was his favourite part of Christmas. So mince pies it was.
They were made on Christmas Day morning - very quickly thanks to my electric mixer which made the pastry and two jars of Robertson's mincemeat. Many years ago now I
made them with another brand of mincemeat, but my younger son (not with us this year) immediately knew and told me off. So I have stuck to Robertson's ever since.
Mind you I really should make my own mincemeat - well if I consider myself a 'proper' cook. I vaguely remember both my grandmother and my mother, with help from little hands, making their own. And I did find a Guardian writer, who had tested out several of the British store bought pies, and also store bought mince, and discovering that really she had to make her own pastry, then saying:
"But then came the trump card. I have never made my own mincemeat before, presuming that it was an enormous faff. And I'd be lying if I said it is faff-free (I used Delia's easiest homemade mincemeat recipe and it still involved soaking things overnight), but nothing tastes as good. You can identify every individual flavour: the candied peels, all the spices, the apple that usually turns to mush." Vicky Frost - The Guardian
Which made me feel a bit bad. And mine didn't look as pretty as those in the picture above either. They just looked very plain. But they do taste good and have been scoffed by many.
Still if you do want to make your own mincemeat - next year - Delia's recipe is here.
However, before buying the mincemeat I had forgotten to check my pantry in which I discovered later on, there was already a jar. I also made slightly fewer this year, because of the absence of my son - so now I am left with one and a half jars of mincemeat. Now the full one can just wait until next year but what to do with the half empty one?
Well I had a look around and there are indeed lots of ideas out there - mostly to do with crumbles and ice-cream it seemed to me. There was even one for a mincemeat baklava, which although scoffed at by the writer who mentioned it, rather sounded like a good idea to me. I couldn't find the recipe that goes with this picture, but the BBC, amongst others, has a recipe.
But of all my usual suspects, Delia was really the only one to offer much in the way of alternatives. Amongst others she has:
And there was also this rather tempting looking slice - almost healthy too as it's got oats in it. Never mind all the other bad stuff.
They are a terribly English thing, mince pies, and date back to the 13th century I believe. Originally they were actually meat pies, but with dried fruits and nuts - a common mix in the Middle East. Also originally they were oval shaped and quite large. The oval shape was to represent the manger and the top represented the swaddling clothes. Over time the meat disappeared, although suet is still found in the mix. In Stuart times they were a luxury food for the rich who had them made in all sorts of fancy shapes - a tradition that is returning I think with all those star cutters and other Christmassy shapes. As in the ones at the top of the page.
It is said that you will have a year's good luck if you eat a mince pie on every one of the twelve days of Christmas - oh dear I don't think we have enough left now.
I think fruit mince is also the vital ingredient in Eccles cakes - but they deserve an entry all to themselves some day.
I will finish with an alarming, no distressing, statistic. In the UK they sold 370 million mince pies and 74 million of them were thrown away. They should have made their own.
POSTSCRIPT
How could I have forgotten to look in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's wonderful book - Leftovers?
He has two minor and more normal suggestions - stuffing for baked apples and also lining the base of an apple pie before putting in the apples, but the standout is his Turkey and Mincemeat Tagine of which he says:
"Bear with me. This sounds just a bit too cute to be true. But it is actually really good. The cinnamon, fruit and nuts contained in a good mincemeat are reminiscent of the ingredients you might find in a Moroccan tagline. And, of course, a tagline is a very good way to use up leftover roast turkey. So this dinner of festival leftovers, featuring a cooking combination of sweet, savoury and spicy flavours, turns out to be sophisticated, sultry and very delicious."
I'm guessing it might be a step too far for my increasingly conservative husband though. I'll think about it.
By the way Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says that you can add other leftover root vegetables - he includes carrots, Or you can make it with leftover chicken or lamb. It doesn't have to be turkey.
