Lady Fettiplace’s Mincemeat

Name: Lady Fettiplace’s Mincemeat
Yield: Serves 10-12; 1 large or 48 tiny pies
Ingredients: 250 g (8 oz) leftover meat, minced; 1 big pinch each powdered ginger and ground mace; 250 g (8 oz, 1¾ cups) raisins; 250 g (8 oz, 1½ cups) dried currants; 250 g (8 oz, 2 cups) beef suet, shredded; 1 level tsp ground cinnamon; 1 heaped tsp salt; 1 big pinch each powdered ginger and ground mace; ½ level tsp freshly grated nutmeg; peel of 1 orange, finely grated, or slightly less of a Seville orange; 6 Tbsp diluted rosewater, made up to strength according to whether it is double or treble distilled; 2 heaped tsp sugar; peel of 1 orange, finely grated, or slightly less of a Seville orange

Preparation info

Serves
10-12
; 1 large or 48 tiny pies

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Feast of Christmas

By Paul Levy

Published 1992

About

Lady Fettiplace’s 1604 recipe used cooked, minced mutton, but leftover tongue or beef will do as well. The quantities are Hilary Spurling’s. You simply mix the whole lot together and use it as soon as you wish. Remember that Mrs Spurling found that it made a savoury rather than a sweet mincemeat.

Ingredients

250 g (8 oz) leftover meat, minced
250 g (8

Starter
Gluten-free
Christmas
December
Winter

Method

You need 375 g (1½ lb) puff or shortcrust pastry, rolled very thin, for tiny tarts, and half that amount for a large, two-crust pie.