Christmas Traditions: Mince Pies
@owlwings (43915)
Cambridge, England
December 6, 2016 3:01am CST
Mince Pies are a very old Christmas tradition in Britain. They are a small pastry pie filled with a mixture of dried fruit (usually just sultanas and currants) soaked in brandy and beef suet - a mixture which is known as 'mincemeat'. In the Middle Ages, the filling really was minced meat with some dried fruit added but, over time, tastes have changed and the only concession to carnivores now is the suet (which is often now vegetarian suet made from vegetable fat).
Mince pies are usually served hot as a snack and are offered to carol singers and any other house visitors along with tea or other warming drinks suitable for the season. They go very well with hot, sweet mulled wine.
Mincemeat is very rich and, of course, alarmingly 'unhealthy' by modern standards because it is full of sugar and fat, but Hey! What the Heck! It's Christmas!
My mother always used to make her own mincemeat and pastry (which is really very easy to do) but these days it is so easy to buy both ready made and, indeed, so easy to buy the pies themselves in any supermarket that very few people make them from scratch any longer.
Have you ever had home-made mince pies? What similar offerings do you have during the Winter celebrations in your country? Are they as specific to the season as mince pies are in England?
Here's a recipe for Mincemeat which you might like to try. Suet is a hard, granular fat which comes only from around the heart and kidneys of beef or mutton but what is usually sold as grated suet is dried and has flour added. Vegetarian suet is made from palm oil and other vegetable oils mixed with flour and has no animal content.
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Try making your mincemeat well in advance of Christmas to give the flavours maximum time to mature
21 people like this
26 responses
@allknowing (130064)
• India
6 Dec 16
We do not have pies among our Christmas goodies but do have our own specialities and have borrowed a few such as the Christmas Pudding.
We have these cones stuffed in jackfruit leaves.
5 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
@allknowing That sounds rather good and a little like something we have here called 'coconut ice' (though it's not cold but made of coconut and condensed milk and sugar). Do the jackfruit leaves add flavour or are they just a useful container for steaming?
I found a recipe for Kozhukkatta which seems to be similar, though not wrapped in jackfruit leaves.
@allknowing (130064)
• India
6 Dec 16
@owlwings
Christmas Pudding is different. This has ground rice paste coated inside the cones and it is stuffed with a mixture of jaggery, coconut and cardamom powder The cones are steamed.
3 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
I must say that I usually eat them cold because it's easier not to put the oven on to warm them. I find the pastry used for the shop-bought mince pies is too short. My mother would have made hers using lard, not butter, and that gives a pastry which is more coherent and less inclined to fall to pieces in the hand.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
@egdcltd I once costed out a comparison between buying ready-made pastry and making my own. It is quite impossible to make pastry from scratch as cheaply as one can buy it, especially if you include the time taken. While I do sometimes make ordinary pastry, I would never consider making puff pastry myself except as an exercise!
1 person likes this
@egdcltd (12060)
•
6 Dec 16
@owlwings Yes, my mother used to use lard when she made her own pastry too, but these days she says it's easier to just buy the pre-made pastry (and she used to teach domestic science, which did include cooking).
If I was warming them, I'd probably use the microwave. After removing the foil!
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
6 Dec 16
I would certainly like that mince pies , because it has some meat on it in addition to the other fruit currants and others . I don't care if it is a bit fatty , but what the heck as you said it is Christmas time , and i suppose that comes out only at this time only .
3 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
Christmas has always been a traditional time for feasting, so I suppose that people made certain dishes only at Christmas. Nowadays, meat pies are made and eaten all year round but mince pies (which no longer contain meat, except as fat) are generally only eaten in December.
1 person likes this
I think , i wouldn't like a mince pie without the minced meat . I am more of carnivorous eating person .
@RebeccasFarm (86769)
• United States
6 Jan 21
I adore mince pies Owl. Have not had any in years. They are not common over here as you may know.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (86769)
• United States
7 Jan 21
@owlwings They are a strange lot here as you also may know ahah
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
6 Dec 16
I've made many kinds of pies and tarts over the years. Mincemeat isn't one I've ever made. I've purchased it once or twice. I'm still on the fence about whether or. Ot I like them.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
I dislike many of the shop-bought mincemeats. Of course, they rarely contain brandy and the suet is either not there or it's vegetarian suet. They're also loaded with preservatives in order to give them a suitable shelf life. I really would recommend the recipe I give. It has grated apple in it, which tends to lighten the mix.
Some people make a tart with mincemeat and a lattice top. I have never liked this as much as the little individual pies.
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
6 Dec 16
@owlwings today is the start of my Christmas baking. I may need to give this a try. I'll post if I do. Thanks for sharing the recipie.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
25 Dec 16
When I was first married I was eager to build my happy home and try so many different things. Making a mince meat pie was one of those “things”. I did it once. Enjoyed it. But never did it again! I have the memory so I'm satisfied with that!
By the way, the Christmas owl you're using for your profile avatar is adoreable! 
1 person likes this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
6 Dec 16
time to pop down to the local bakery and get a batch
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@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
6 Dec 16
@owlwings potentially, the Irish folks also adds some spices to the mince pies too. Unfortunately, my tongue is too dull to detect what it is, but it does taste snappier. some even puts bits of orange into them.. truly yum
@1creekgirl (40529)
• United States
6 Dec 16
Those sound marvelous! I make chocolate mint squares only at Christmas and my aunt used to always make pulled candy. She has Alzheimers now and I don't think anyone can make it like she did.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
A very long time ago there used to be a stall on our local market which made pulled candy and sticks of what we call rock with lettering all the way through. I seem to recall that you could actually order rock with a personalized message or the name of a person. I do remember standing watching the sugar on a big hook stretching itself and how amazed we were that the candy maker caught it just in time and hooked it up to stretch some more!
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40529)
• United States
6 Dec 16
@owlwings That's so cool! My daughter and her cousin decided when they were about 13 to start their own company, making Aunt Fannie's candy and using her recipe. Needless to say, that career didn't work out. There's a big difference in following a recipe and actually having years of experience.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
9 Dec 16
That sounds very good! I used to have a good cast iron mincer (grinder) but, unfortunately, one of the parts went missing and I have replaced it with a plastic one which, although it feels flimsy, works pretty well (and can also make noodles and fill sausages, though I haven't tried those functions!).
I have never made mincemeat using beef (the only 'meat' in my recipe is the suet) but I now have an old recipe which I am going to try sometime.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (57904)
• Centralia, Washington
9 Dec 16
@owlwings I am in a muddle right now cause sugar and fats like butter are off my list of edibles. I must tow the line if I am to continue working on my health and slimming my waist. Christmas has always been a time of cookie making and even candy making. I have a bag of mincemeat in my freezer. I'd love to make some pie crust and fill 'er up but I mustn't. And old fashioned sugar cookies? Nope. I am instead going to buy some dried cherries and filberts and make my date sweetened nut balls but my hands are itchy to start rolling out sugar cookie dough and so it goes...... Sorry about the whine.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325818)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Dec 16
Mum always cooked with dripping. I don't think oil hadn't been invented when we were young. Certainly we never knew about oil. When she was running low, she would ask Dad to save what was called the 'core fat' when next he killed a sheep. This would be rendered down for dripping. Before rendering it was used as suet for pastry.
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@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
6 Dec 16
I don't ever remember my mother cooking with oil, either. There was always a bowl of dripping in the larder ready for frying (and also for spreading on bread or toast, especially if you could get at the brown, meaty jelly at the bottom!)
We certainly had olive oil but it came from the chemist in a tiny (and very expensive) bottle and was only used for cleaning the ears of earwax and other strictly medical purposes.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325818)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Dec 16
@owlwings We'd also spread dripping on bread when it was cold. Our roast would sit in a half inch of dripping with the vegetables around it. Halfway through cooking the vegetables would be turned over so they were coated both sides.
The meat would be taken out of the dripping, most of which would then be poured back into the dripping container. The tablespoonful that remained would be mixed with flour then hot water to make the gravy. Once the vegies came out Mum might dip a piece of bread in the hot fat and there would be brown bits on it. It was SO nice. Those were the days!
@Traceyjayne (1763)
• United Kingdom
22 Dec 16
I made two dozen mince pies just yesterday ready for Christmas. I made my own pastry too, much better than shop bought stuff !
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
22 Dec 16
Oh, well done! You're right. The factory made ones aren't half as good (though my impression is that they are getting better).
@thelme55 (76476)
• Germany
6 Jan 21
I love mincemeat pies and I have not eaten them for years. When we were on vacation in England or Ireland, we bought glasses of ready made mincemeat for me to make mincemeat pies here in Germany, whenever I wanted to. They were delicious snacks for us. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
1 person likes this
@rubyriaz007 (4188)
• India
17 Jun 18
I have never had mince pies, but I will try it one day.
1 person likes this
@dpk262006 (58675)
• Delhi, India
7 Dec 16
It sounds very interesting. I hope the mince pies would be very yummy. I had no occasion to try mince pies here.
1 person likes this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
6 Dec 16
It is now five years since I was in UK for Christmas and therefore the same amount of time since I had a mince pie - and they look so scrumptous in your picture that I am now craving for one! 
They are not sold here except in British food shops or online and both are expensive. There are not the ingredients to make them either so I guess I will miss out yet again this year
They are not sold here except in British food shops or online and both are expensive. There are not the ingredients to make them either so I guess I will miss out yet again this year 1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
7 Dec 16
My mom used to buy mincemeat pies for holidays and I remember that I liked them okay. These days I tend to go with something like pecan. For this thanksgiving I got a chocolate cream pie and a pecan pie.. and the kids devoured the chocolate cream pie in a heart beat!
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
6 Dec 16
That is something i've never had and know it's something I wouldn't eat...just the word suet turns me off.
1 person likes this
