These pies are always made with covers, and should be eaten warm. If
baked the day before, heat them on the stove or before the fire.
Mince-meat made early in the winter, and packed closely in stone jars,
will keep till spring, if it has a sufficiency of spice and liquor.
Whenever you take out any for use, pour some additional brandy into the
jar before you cover it again, and add some more sugar. No mince-meat,
however, will keep well unless all the ingredients are of the best
quality. The meat should always be boiled the day before you want to
chop it.
GOOD MINCE-MEAT.--Take a bullock's heart and boil it, or two pounds
of the lean of fresh beef. When it is quite cold, chop it very fine.
Chop three pounds of beef suet (first removing the skin and strings)
and six pounds of large juicy apples that have been pared and cored.
Then stone six pounds of the best raisins, (or take sultana raisins
that are without stones,) and chop them also. Wash and dry three pounds
of currants. Mix all together; adding to them the grated peel and the
juice of two or three large oranges, two table-spoonfuls of powdered
cinnamon, two powdered nutmegs, and three dozen powdered cloves, a
tea-spoonful of beaten mace, one pound of fine brown sugar, one quart
of Madeira wine, one pint of French brandy, and half a pound of citron
cut into large slips. Having thoroughly mixed the whole, put it into a
stone jar, and tie it up with brandy paper.
THE BEST MINCE-MEAT.--Take a large fresh tongue, rub it with a mixture,
in equal proportions, of salt, brown sugar, and powdered cloves. Cover
it, and let it lie two days, or at least twenty-four hours. Then boil
it two hours, and when it is cold, skin it, and mince it very fine.
Chop also three pounds of beef suet, six pounds of sultana raisins, and
six pounds of the best pippin apples that have been previously pared
and cored. Add three pounds of currants, picked, washed and dried; two
large table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon; the juice and grated rinds
of four large lemons; one pound of sweet almonds, one ounce of bitter
almonds, blanched and pounded in a mortar with half a pint of rose
water; also four powdered nutmegs; two dozen beaten cloves; and a dozen
blades of mace powdered. Add a pound of powdered white sugar, and a
pound of citron cut into slips. Mix all together, and moisten it with a
quart of Madeira, and a pint of brandy. Put it up closely in a stone
jar with brandy paper; and when you take any out, add some more sugar
and brandy; and chop some fresh apples.
Bake this mince-meat in puff paste.
You may reserve the citron to put in when you make the pies. Do not cut
the slips too small, or the taste will be almost imperceptible.
VERY PLAIN MINCE-MEAT.--Take a piece of fresh beef, consisting of about
two pounds of lean, and one pound of fat. Boil it, and when it is quite
cold, chop it fine. Or you may substitute cold roast beef. Pare and
core some fine juicy apples, cut them in pieces, weigh three pounds,
and chop them. Stone four pounds of raisins, and chop them also. Add
a large table-spoonful of powdered cloves, and the same quantity of
powdered cinnamon. Also a pound of brown sugar. Mix all thoroughly,
moistening it with a quart of bottled or sweet cider. You may add the
grated peel and the juice of an orange.
Bake it in good common paste.
This mince-meat will do very well for children or for family use, but
is too plain to be set before a guest. Neither will it keep so long as
that which is richer and more highly seasoned. It is best to make no
more of it at once than you have immediate occasion for.
MINCE-MEAT FOR LENT.--Boil a dozen eggs quite hard, and chop the
yolks very fine. Chop also a dozen pippins, and two pounds of sultana
raisins. Add two pounds of currants, a pound of sugar, a table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of beaten mace, three powdered
nutmegs, the juice and grated peel of three large lemons, and half a
pound of citron cut in large strips. Mix these ingredients thoroughly,
and moisten the whole with a pint of white wine, half a pint of
rose-water, and half a pint of brandy. Bake it in very nice paste.
These mince pies may be eaten by persons who refrain from meat in Lent.