Does anyone have a recipe for real, old-fashioned mincemeat? The commercial variety just doesn't compare to what my grandmother made. When I was growing up, she used to turn out the mincemeat every year and I'd make all the pies and cookies, with it, for the holidays. I'd like my family to taste that. You have to be pretty explicit with the directions. Thanks, Irish

-- Irish (zumende@aol.com), July 27, 2001

Answers

You can probably find the recipe in "The Joy of Cooking"

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), July 28, 2001.

Irish, the only thing I can find in my cookbooks, are recipes for canning mincemeat. There is also a recipe in the Ball canning book. These recipes make quite a few pies. Did your Grandma make the mincemeat from scratch as she was making the pie, or did she can the mincemeat earlier and then make the pies? If you would like a few of the canning recipes, just let me know and I'll post em for you.

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), July 28, 2001.

There are several to choose from at http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/ Hope this helps!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), July 28, 2001.

I have a recipe book put out by the Mennonites here in Virginia 50 years ago, and it has a recipe for mincemeat. Now this is supposed to make 7 quarts, so you might want to trim it down to try it out. I never have used this recipe, but here goes anyhow:

Mincemeat for Pie:

1-1/2 lbs beef, 1-1/2 lbs pork, 1/2 lb suet, 2 lb seedless raisins, 2 lbs currents, 2 lbs granulated sugar, 1 lb brown sugar, 2 oranges, 2 lemons, 1/2 lb citron, 2 qts chopped apples, 1 cup molasses, 2 tsp ground cloves, 3 tsp cinnamon, 3 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 cup cider.

Cook beef, pork, and suet till tender. Mince fine or run through food chopper. Cook raisins and currents till soft. Chop citron, apples, oranges, and lemon very fine or grind through coarse blade of food chopper. Add meat and other ingredients, and simmer together for 12 minutes. Put in jars and process as for meat. Makes 7 quarts.

Hope it works out for you!

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), July 29, 2001.

Hendo, I'll look in my daughter's Joy of Cooking (she took my copy, don't you know!). I'll check out the "berkeley" site too, Cowgirlone. Annie, yes, Mommom made the mincemeat up from scratch--canning it for me to use (all year long, actually). I did most of the cooking and all the baking for my family about the time I could reach the top of the stove...have a GREAT recipe for mincemeat cookies too. Daffodyllady, your recipe, at least, sounds close. I remember the heavy spices, apples, lotsa raisins, beef, suet, oranges, and molasses. Not sure 'bout the lemons, pork, currants, and citron but gonna give it a try. It sounds wonderful so I'm going for the full 7 quarts, first try. Thanks so-o-o much to each of you!

-- Irish (Zumende@aol.com), August 05, 2001.