At this very moment I am diving into a tiny mincemeat piece of deliciousness made with love by my friend Jan Riley.  It would have been more than enough to enjoy lunch with her and David yesterday at our usual spot but in she came with this Christmas goodie straight out of her past and mine.

My father loved mincemeat pies and my mother could make a pretty good one albeit with None Such Mincemeat filling.  It was a bit foreign to the Italian side of things at our house but my father, or should I say his parents, being Scottish was quite familiar with the savory/sweet deliciousness.  He pretty much had the entire pie to himself until we eventually caught on.

The recipe for these little tarts comes straight out of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management.  This indispensable handbook of many a newly married woman was originally published back in 1861.  Jan and I have had, and continue to have, quite the laugh about this book whenever we mention it.

Mrs. Beeton from the preface:  I must frankly own, that if I had known, beforehand, that this book would have cost me the labour which it has, I should never have been courageous enough to commence it. What moved me, in the first instance, to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought upon men and women by household mismanagement. I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife’s badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways. Men are now so well served out of doors,—at their clubs, well-ordered taverns, and dining-houses, that in order to compete with the attractions of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery, as well as be perfectly conversant with all the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home.

Yeah.  Right.  That said it is still indispensable today and while the domestic side of running a home has changed dramatically the recipes are as contemporary as they’ve always been.  And Jan and her legacy would be lost without them.  This little taste of what my grandparents must have enjoyed back in Scotland and this little moment of “coffee and..” with my father is making an otherwise cold, windy and grey day quite a bit brighter. The real gift, however, is the memory of my father and his heritage and the warmth my dear friend has provided.  Merry Christmas Jan.

So laugh if you must, from my internet copy (yes Mrs. Beeton has a website) of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, Chapter 27, the recipe for “Excellent Mincemeat” and the delicious little pies.  I’ll need Jan to translate a few things…

EXCELLENT MINCEMEAT.1310. INGREDIENTS – 3 large lemons, 3 large apples, 1 lb. of stoned raisins, 1 lb. of currants, 1 lb. of suet, 2 lbs. of moist sugar, 1 oz. of sliced candied citron, 1 oz. of sliced candied orange-peel, and the same quantity of lemon-peel, 1 teacupful of brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls of orange marmalade.

Mode.—Grate the rinds of the lemons; squeeze out the juice, strain it, and boil the remainder of the lemons until tender enough to pulp or chop very finely. Then add to this pulp the apples, which should be baked, and their skins and cores removed; put in the remaining ingredients one by one, and, as they are added, mix everything very thoroughly together. Put the mincemeat into a stone jar with a closely-fitting lid, and in a fortnight it will be ready for use.

Seasonable.—This should be made the first or second week in December.

MINCE PIES.

1311. INGREDIENTS – Good puff-paste No. 1205, mincemeat No. 1309.

Mode.—Make some good puff-paste by recipe No. 1205; roll it out to the thickness of about 1/4 inch, and line some good-sized pattypans with it; fill them with mincemeat, cover with the paste, and cut it off all round close to the edge of the tin. Put the pies into a brisk oven, to draw the paste up, and bake for 25 minutes, or longer, should the pies be very large; brush them over with the white of an egg, beaten with the blade of a knife to a stiff froth; sprinkle over pounded sugar, and put them into the oven for a minute or two, to dry the egg; dish the pies on a white d’oyley, and serve hot. They may be merely sprinkled with pounded sugar instead of being glazed, when that mode is preferred. To re-warm them, put the pies on the pattypans, and let them remain in the oven for 10 minutes or 1/4 hour, and they will be almost as good as if freshly made.

Time.—25 to 30 minutes; 10 minutes to re-warm them.

Average cost, 4d. each.

Sufficient—1/2 lb. of paste for 4 pies. Seasonable at Christmas time.