Dinner
Mince-meat
Mince-meat, preserved from Marion Harland’s 1903 cookbook with ingredient cues including (a family recipe 150 years old.) boil two pounds of lean beef, and when cold, chop f.
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From the cited source
Source ingredient cues
These cues were extracted from the historical method for discovery. Use the complete source method and citation alongside them.
- (A family recipe 150 years old.) Boil two pounds of lean beef, and when cold, chop fine.
- Mince a pound of beef suet to a powder.
- Peel and chop five pounds of apples.
- Seed and halve two pounds of raisins.
- Wash, and pick over carefully two pounds of cleaned currants and one pound of sultana raisins.
- Cut into tiny bits three-quarters of a pound of citron.
- Mix these ingredients, adding, as you do so, two tablespoonfuls, each, of cinnamon and mace, a tablespoonful, each, of cloves and allspice, a teaspoonful of ground nutmeg, a tablespoon ful of salt and two and a half pounds of brown sugar.
- When all is well mixed, stir in a quart of sherry and a pint of the best brandy.
- For a century and a half, the Old Virginia housewives, from whom I proudly claim descent, laid the dainty trellis across the heaving brown breast of the masterpiece, and six generations of epicures have set thereon the seal of their approval.
Historical transcription
Source method
- 1
(A family recipe 150 years old.)
- 2
Boil two pounds of lean beef, and when cold, chop fine. Mince a pound of beef suet to a powder. Peel and chop five pounds of apples. Seed and halve two pounds of raisins. Wash, and pick over carefully two pounds of cleaned currants and one pound of sultana raisins. Cut into tiny bits three-quarters of a pound of citron. Mix these ingredients, adding, as you do so, two tablespoonfuls, each, of cinnamon and mace, a tablespoonful, each, of cloves and allspice, a teaspoonful of ground nutmeg, a tablespoon ful of salt and two and a half pounds of brown sugar. When all is well mixed, stir in a quart of sherry and a pint of the best brandy. Mix thoroughly and pack down in a stone crock.
- 3
Mince-meat should be prepared several weeks before it is needed, that it may “ripen” and become mellow. Those whose temperance principles forbid the moistening of the mince-meat with brandy or sherry, may use cider in their place. In making mince pies have the best puff-paste. Line pie-plates with this, fill the crust shells with the mince-meat, and lay strips of pastry, lattice-wise, across the tops of the pies. Bake in a good oven, which should be as hot at the bottom as at the top. The pies may be kept for weeks, but must be reheated before serving.
- 4
Our New Orleans essayist upon the national pie, is cavalierly disdainful in throwing aside the third variety:
- 5
“The barred pie may be dismissed without discussion, being a mere compromise, a pabulum for colorless individuals who are the mugwumps of the dining-room.”
- 6
In defiance of the slur, I commend my “barred” mince pie, with its latticed cover, as the pearl of the royal race. For a century and a half, the Old Virginia housewives, from whom I proudly claim descent, laid the dainty trellis across the heaving brown breast of the masterpiece, and six generations of epicures have set thereon the seal of their approval.
Nutrition pending
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