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Christmas Mincemeat

Introduction & method

One of the great traditional foods of a British Christmas is mince pies. You might think this involves meat of some kind, but you'd be wrong. Yes, mince pies contain mincemeat, but there's nothing minced in it, and no meat. Dried and fresh fruit are cooked up with nuts, spices, fat and booze, and the result is delicious. 

 Christmas Mincemeat Recipe

Prep the Fruit


Peel, core and finely chop the apples. If the prunes and dates have stones, remove them and finely chop the flesh. Finely chop the apricots. Chop the almonds. Grate the zest from the orange and lemon, and squeeze the juice from them. Place everything except the suet and the brandy into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, and then turn down the heat and simmer for an hour. Add water if the mixture is too thick. When everything has boiled down to a brownish gooey mush, remove the pan from the heat. Remove the cinnamon sticks, a wait for the mixture to cool completely.

Stick it in Jars


Sterilize 5 glass jars and their lids by boiling them in water for 10 minutes. When the mincemeat is cool, stir in the suet and most of the brandy. Spoon the mincemeat into your jars, and top with a spoonful of brandy.

Put the lids on the jars. This mincemeat is ready to use straight away, but it will keep for several years - the brandy takes care of that!


The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Christmas Mincemeat on YouTube.

 
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Ingredients & Info



 1 kilo Granny Smith apples
 1 orange
 1 lemon
 350 grams prunes
 350 grams sultanas
 350 grams raisins
 200 grams almonds
 200 grams dried apricots
 100 grams dates
 200 grams sugar
 250 grams suet
 100 grams candied orange or lemon peel
 1 litre cider
 200 ml brandy
 2 cinnamon sticks
 2 tsp ground nutmeg

UNITS:
Metric
US Customary/Imperial

Makes about 5 litres
Prep time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: 1 hour.
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes.