A proper, boozy mincemeat, this wonderful recipe comes from the chief pastry cook of The Astor House, by way of The White House Cook Book. Made with lean beef, suet, green apples, and lots of raisins, it’s finished off with both Brandy and Madeira, for a mincemeat worthy of the fanciest Christmas table.
Dear friends ~
For ages, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making true, old-fashioned mincemeat–using minced beef, suet, and all the things. Somehow I’ve just never gotten around to it.
After reading over the suggested Christmas Day menu from The White House Cook Book (1887), and seeing this recipe for mince pie on there, I knew this was the year I had to try it.
This recipe does take a bit of work, but most of the effort is simply lots and lots of chopping. If you have a few friends who enjoy old fashioned cooking, this would be a great recipe to make together. Gather some extra sets of hands to make light work of the project, then when you’re done, share the very large batch of finished mincemeat with everyone who helped. (This is a ten-quart recipe, if you’re wondering!)
The result is a wonderfully spicy, old fashioned mincemeat, perfect for Christmastime.
Not too spicy or boozy, all those individual flavors meld together and complement one another, while still coming through on their own. There’s a lot going in this recipe, and after tasting it, that feels like exactly what a really good mincemeat should be. Hope you enjoy it!
~ Anna
The White House Cook Book, 1887
MINCE PIES. No. 1.
The “Astor House,” some years ago, was famous for its “mince pies.” The chief pastry cook at that time, by request, published the recipe. I find that those who partake of it never fail to speak in laudable terms of the superior excellence of this recipe, when strictly followed.
Four pounds of lean boiled beef, chopped fine, twice as much of chopped green tart apples, one pound of chopped suet, three pounds of raisins, seeded, two pounds of currants picked over, washed and dried, half a pound of citron, cut up fine, one pound of brown sugar, one quart of cooking molasses, two quarts of sweet cider, one pint of boiled cider, one tablespoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of pepper, one tablespoonful of mace, one tablespoonful of allspice, and four tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, two grated nutmegs, one tablespoonful of cloves; mix thoroughly and warm it on the range, until heated through. Remove from the fire, and when nearly cool, stir in a pint of good brandy, and one pint of Madeira wine. Put into a crock, cover it tightly, and set it in a cold place where it will not freeze, but keep perfectly cold. Will keep good all winter.
–Chef de Cuisine, Astor House, N.Y.
Here’s a photo of the recipe as it appears in the cookbook:
A FEW COOKING NOTES:
This is one of those recipes that would be so much more fun to make with friends. I made only a half batch, and it still took me a couple hours to make this, working alone. If you had a few people set up with knives and cutting boards to handle all that chopping, you could certainly make quick work of it.
If you do choose to make this all yourself, one small suggestion I have is to chop the meat, before you chop ALL those apples. The apples are easier to chop, but there’s such a volume of them, that you’ll have a tired hand by the time you’re through. Having tired hands isn’t a great way to go into finely mincing that meat, which takes more skill than the apples.
You can tell that I did this the other way around, can’t you? After wearing my hand out chopping apples, I managed to nip a bit off the end of my finger while mincing the meat, and I’m usually extremely good with knives. Next time I’d chop the lean meat first, then the apples, and then the suet, which is just plain fun to chop into little waxy bits.
What cut of beef to use for this?
The recipe specifies lean beef, and some other 1800’s mincemeat recipes that I’ve seen specifically recommend neck meat. With that information, I went down to my local butcher shop, and the kind ladies there suggested a Yankee Pot Roast as a good choice.
That’s what I went with, and it really did work very well. It was an affordable cut at my local shop, but if it’s not easy to come by (or not affordable where you are), then I really do feel any good lean, tender cut of beef would work just fine.
Those green tart apples
I feel quite certain that what this recipe is indicating with the word “green”, is not apples that are specifically green in color, but “green” as in not quite ripe yet. Based on some other mincemeat recipes I’ve seen, and various contemporary mentions that mincemeat was usually made in the fall to keep all winter, this feels like the correct reading of it.
Next year, I’ll plan to make a batch of this in September, when good tart apple varieties are still hard and bit unripe.
For now, I made do with Granny Smith apples, which were certainly green in color, but were not very crisp, and by no means unripe. I do think using slightly unripe apples would be a benefit to the quality of the finished recipe, although it’s certainly delicious even with fully-ripe Granny Smiths.
Sourcing raw suet
If you’re lucky enough to have a good butcher shop nearby, that’s the first place I’d look. You may also find suet right at your grocery store’s meat counter. If you don’t see any on the shelves, try asking the butcher or department manager directly. They may be able to get some for you.
Local farms that raise cows and sheep would be other great places to try. Remember that suet can come from lamb and mutton, as well as beef. If the farmers don’t have any available, chances are they may have an idea where you can get some. Anyone raising meat animals tends to be pretty integrated into the locally-grown food community, and is likely to know who’s got what available.
The currants
You can tell that the washed and dried currants were likely expected to be fresh, while most of us have a pretty hard time getting anything but dried currants these days.
If you are lucky enough to live in a place where fresh currants can be sourced, I’d go for it. For myself, since my currants were already clean and dried, I added them just the way they were, and that worked well. Like the raisins, they plump up over time as the mincemeat sits.
Sweet cider and boiled cider
The sweet cider is just good fresh apple cider, that’s not alcoholic yet.
BOILED CIDER is cider that’s been slowly boiled down until it’s reduced in volume by half or more. It will get thicker and a little syrupy as it boils down. This was generally made and kept for flavoring baked goods, and has a wonderfully intense apple cider flavor. I already had a supply on hand, but if you’re making it just for this recipe, I’d take a quart of fresh cider, and simply simmer it slowly until it’s reduced to a pint, then use that.
Those nutmegs
If you can, I definitely encourage you to add whole nutmegs to your supply of spices, as well as a good grater. Ground nutmeg is handy, but there’s nothing like the flavor and scent of freshly ground nutmeg.
If you don’t have whole nutmegs available, or want to keep things easy, I generally use 2.5 teaspoons of nutmeg as a substitute for each whole nutmeg.
Choosing the right size pot
For a half batch of this recipe, I used a 2-gallon stock pot, and really needed every bit of the space. If you were to make a whole batch, you’d want to use at least a 4-gallon stock pot, or something like a large canner.
Brandy and Madeira
It says “good brandy”, but let’s just be honest that this mama can’t be looking at the prices on top-shelf brandy. I mean, I did look, but whoa Nelly. On principle, I did not buy the cheapest brandy, but went with the third-cheapest brandy.
While we’re on the subject of alcohol, can we just talk about WHY are there so many booze options in a grocery store? Few endeavors feel more mentally draining, than trying to source an appropriate alcohol for a historic recipe, while deciphering the sea of labels in the tipsy aisle at Hannaford.
That said, the issue I ran into with the Madeira was not an overwhelm of choices, but a lack of them. Thank goodness for the kind department manager who took pity on me and finally pointed out the single bottle of utilitarian-looking Madeira in that entire store. I spontaneously announced to the whole aisle that she’d saved Christmas, then felt compelled to make sure every poor bystander knew it was for a recipe. I cannot take myself anywhere, and clearly need to just learn to order booze online.
If you can’t find Madeira, I hear that port or dark sherry would probably be suitable alternatives.
Baking that pie.
I made this as a single crust pie, using Sarah Hale’s “Family Pie Paste.” (That recipe is enough to make two single crust pies, or one two-crust pie.)
Baked at 350°F, in a 10″ standard-depth pie plate, this took an hour and 5 minutes to bake to golden, bubbly perfection.
How much does this recipe make?
I made just a half batch of this, and ended up with exactly 5 quarts of lovely mincemeat. A whole batch should give you 10 quarts, or 2.5 gallons.
Here’s the suggested Christmas Day menu from the same cook book. The White House Cook Book, 1887.
This mincemeat is one of those old recipes that feels so special, it makes me want to share it with everyone I love…which works out, because it makes a big batch!
I love that it’s less cloyingly sweet than any store-bought mincemeat I’ve ever tried, and the texture is hearty, though not in an off-putting way.
Much like the 1845 Apple Pie recipe I made for Thanksgiving, it has an old-fashioned taste that’s unique but accessible, and it’s absolutely going on my yearly must-make list. This is one definitely worth trying, if you enjoy mincemeat!
Until next time, ~ Anna
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