My mother only made mincemeat pies at Thanksgiving, when we had lots of relatives visiting. She used mincemeat from a jar and filled her own pie crust. 

Originally, mincemeat was made with meat and included spices, dried fruit, and spirits (alcohol). That way, mincemeat could be preserved for many months. I don’t think many mincemeat pies you buy at the store today contain meat.

You can click on this link if you’d like to read the post on making mincemeat without meat. 

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

MINCEMEAT PIES
Mincemeat, which is much used for pies during the fall and winter season, is a concoction that finds favor with most people. Pie of this kind made with the usual ingredients is a heavy dessert, for it contains a certain amount of protein material and is high in fat and carbohydrate. This fact should be taken into consideration in meal planning, so that the dessert may balance properly with the other food. Mince 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.

TO MAKE MINCEMEAT
Mincemeat made early in the winter and packed close 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 liquor into the jar and add some more sugar before you cover it again. No mincemeat, however, will keep well uless all the ingredients are of the best quality. The meat should always be boiled the day before you want to chop it. 

Mincemeat may be comparatively simple or it may contain a large variety of ingredients, In accordance with this variation, it may be cheap or expensive. However, the ingredients generally used in this mixture are apples, dried fruits, sugar, molasses, cider, and chopped beef and suet. Other fruits, such as quinces, oranges, and citron, and various spices are also often used for flavoring.

The cheaper cuts of meat, such as the neck, shoulder, brisket, etc., are suitable for this purpose, because the meat is ground so fine in making the mince meat that the fact that it was at all tough can be very readily concealed.

Such expensive material as citron can be omitted altogether if desired and greater quantities of apples, which are the cheapest ingredient, used. A slight variation in the ingredients does not make any material difference in this mixture and the recipes given are submitted merely as a basis from which to work.

The juice from pickled fruits, jelly, or the juice from preserves or canned cherries may be used in any desired proportion in the making of mince meat to replace some of the cider. West India molasses will be found a good substitute for the wine and brandy generally used to moisten mincemeat. If mince meat grows dry by standing, moisten with a little coffee.

If you intend the mincemeat for keeping, do not add the apple and citron until you are about to make the pies, as it will keep better without them. Mix all the other articles thoroughly and pack down the mincemeat, hard, in small stone jars. Lay upon the top of it, a round of thin white paper, dipped in molasses, and cut exactly to fit the inside circumference of the jar. Secure the jars closely with flat, tight-fitting corks, and then with a lid; and paste paper down over the top on the outside.

Keep your mince meat in a jar tightly covered. Set it in a dry, cool place, and occasionally add more brandy to it.

MINCEMEAT RECIPE FOR PIES
Boil a nice piece of beef—any piece that is clear from sinews and gristle, till it is perfectly tender.  When it is cold, chop it very fine, and be very careful to get out every particle of bone and gristle. Suet is sweeter and better if you boil it half an hour or more in the liquor the beef has been boiled in. Pare, core, and chop the apples fine. If you use raisins, stone* them. If you use currants, wash and dry them at the fire. 

Mix two pounds of beef after it is chopped, three-fourths pound of suet, one and one-fourth pound of sugar, three pounds of apples, and two pounds of currants or raisins. If your apples are rather sweet, grate in a whole lemon. Put in a gill* of brandy and add about a quart of new cider to make it quite moist; the more moist the better if it does not spill out into the oven. Add a very little pepper, one ounce of cinnamon, and one ounce of cloves. Two nutmegs add to the pleasantness of the flavor. 

*stone – raisins were sold with the seeds (stones) still in them
*gill – a liquid measurement; four ounces in the U.S. and five ounces in the U.K.

RICH MINCE FOR PIES
Take four pounds of beef, boiled and chopped fine, and add three pounds of suet, also chopped fine. Wash two pounds currants and one of raisins, grate the peel of two lemons and put in the juice, pound a spoon of dried orange peel, slice an ounce of citron,* and chop twelve large apples. Mix these together with three pounds of sugar, half a pint of wine, and the same of brandy and sweet cider to make it a proper thickness. Put in mace and nutmeg to your taste. If the cider is not sweet, you must put in more sugar before the pies are baked.

*citron – a large fruit similar to a lemon, but with flesh that is less acidic and peels that are thicker and more fragrant. The rind preserved in sugar is also called citron.

THE BEST MINCEMEAT
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 tablespoons 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. Do not cut the slips too small, or the taste will be almost imperceptible. 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. You may reserve the citron to put in when you make the pies. 

VERY PLAIN MINCEMEAT
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. Pare and core some fine juicy apples, cut them in pieces, weigh three pounds, and chop them. Add four pounds of raisins and chop them also. Add a large tablespoon of powdered cloves, the same quantity of powdered cinnamon, and a pound of brown sugar. Mix all thoroughly, moistening it with a quart of sweet cider. You may also add the grated peel and the juice of an orange. This mincemeat 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.

A CHEAP KIND OF MINCEMEAT
Ingredients: 

• eight ounces stoned raisins
• eight ounces washed and dried currants 
• one pound boiled tripe* 
• one pound apples
• one pound chopped suet
• four ounces candied peel, shredded
• one pound moist sugar 
• one ounce allspice 
• the juice and chopped rind of three lemons 
• one-half gill of rum

Chop the raisins, currants, apples, and the tripe all together or separately. Mix well, then place the mixture in a pan. Add the remainder of the ingredients, mix them thoroughly until well incorporated with each other. Put the mincemeat into a clean dry stone jar, tie some thick paper or a piece of bladder* over the top, and keep it in a cool place until wanted for use.

*tripe – beef tripe is usually made from the first three chambers of a cow’s stomach; the fourth stomach is not used.
*bladder – the bladder from an animal was used to cover mincemeat, potted meat, etc., to exclude the air.

Image from Deposit Photos

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You can click on this link if you’d like to read the post on making mincemeat without meat. 

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Do you make mincemeat pies for Thanksgiving or Christmas?  Have you ever made your own mincemeat? Please leave a comment below.

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