What the heck is mincemeat?
Mincemeat is one of those mysterious foods that crop up around Christmas time. As a child, my vague understanding was that it was like pecan pie but made with ground beef instead of pecans. Like an unholy combination of meatloaf and pecan pie, basically.
It turns out that this description is actually not too far off. In the past, mincemeat was typically made with beef suet (fat), and usually contained actual meat. However, these days it is mainly made with fruit and nuts.
Mincemeat began as an English recipe for pie in the late medieval era, around the 1400s. You would start with a pie crust, then fill it with a mixture of chopped meat, sugar, and whatever minced nuts and fruits you had hanging around your medieval castle kitchen or bakery. Spices were added, usually nutmeg and cloves, and some kind of flavoring. The original flavorings were wine or vinegar, but people eventually settled on brandy.
You may be thinking that "a pie with meat, fruit, nuts, sugar, and vinegar would be disgusting." And to our modern sensibilities, this is undeniably true. It also probably didn't help England's reputation as a country with terrible cuisine.
In its defense, mincemeat is essentially a preserved food, so it can keep for many months without requiring refrigeration. Certainly a big plus, back in medieval times. And that's about all I can say in its defense. "It kept well."
Modern day mincemeat rarely contains meat, but if you are a vegetarian or squeamish, be sure to check the ingredients before diving in.
If you would like to try your own hand at creating a mincemeat pie, David Liebovitz has an excellent recipe that is all vegetarian sourced (although you can add your own suet or chopped meat if you prefer). Happy holidays! Enjoy your beef-based dessert.
Image courtesy Flickr/kyz