|
Homemade Mincemeat is made with freshly grated apple, dried apples, dried
cranberries, golden and dark raisins, currants, and candied peel. These
wonderful ingredients are flavored with dark brown sugar, frozen apple juice
concentrate, rum and brandy, butter, ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and
cloves. Trust me on this, once you taste this rich, sweet, and spicy preserve
you will be hooked.
In the beginning Mincemeat was made with meat (hence the name), along with
eggs, dried fruits and spices. Over time, beef suet (kidney fat) came to
replace the meat and the eggs were dropped completely from the recipe.
Today's mincemeat is thought of as a spicy preserve consisting of a
mixture of dried and candied fruits, apples, and spices (with or without
beef suet) that are heavily laced with brandy and/or rum. Now, the recipe
given here (from Rick Rodgers' excellent cookbook Christmas 101) does not contain
beef suet, which the health conscious will appreciate. Instead the fat
used is unsalted butter. Mincemeat is often made by just
mixing all the ingredients together and then letting the mincemeat
macerate in jars for several weeks. This recipe is a little different in
that it is first cooked which allows the fruits to absorb the liquid and
become wonderfully soft and plump. Then the mincemeat is refrigerated.
What is so great about this recipe is that the mincemeat is ready to be used the very
next day which is perfect for the last minute baker. However, if you want
it can also be refrigerated for up to a month, but you will need to feed
the mincemeat with a little rum or brandy ever week or so.
Now, what do we do with mincemeat once it is made? I think everyone's
favorite is miniature Mincemeat Tarts
(commonly known as Mince Pies), consisting of a top and bottom crust of
pastry with a mincemeat filling. Another favorite of mine is a large
Mincemeat Tart with its lovely
lattice top, or the
Mincemeat Shortbread
Bars which are like a Mincemeat Tart only in bar form. The pastry is
replaced by two layers of buttery shortbread with a layer of
mincemeat in between. If you have extra mincemeat it can be warmed and spooned over vanilla ice cream. |
Page loading ... Please wait.
