Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 31: Recipe - Suet-free Mincemeat

 

A couple of years ago, around about the beginning of December I started craving something specific to eat. Something fruity, something apple-y, something sweet but zesty, something with spices like cinnamon... but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was my taste buds were hankering for. I Googled recipes for apple cake and fruit cake, but nothing I found really seemed to be what I was looking for. And then one day in the supermarket a box of mince pies caught my eye and I realised - of course! Mincemeat!

For those readers outside the UK I'd better explain what I mean by mincemeat. Mincemeat is a traditional Christmas recipe used as a filling for mincepies, made from dried fruits, apples, sugar, spices and alcohol. It originated in medieval times, probably due to returning Crusaders bringing back with them spices and Middle Eastern recipes that combined them with meat and fruit. Originally mincemeat contained minced meat (such as mutton) - hence the name - and suet. Gradually over the years, meat was dropped from the recipe and mincemeat became a sweet rather than a savoury treat, but suet is still usually included though it's possible these days to buy vegetarian mincemeat, made with vegetable suet.

I was vegetarian for years, and although now I occasionally eat meat or fish, I've never quite understood why it is that suet - vegetarian or not - continues to be used in mincemeat. It doesn't really add anything to the recipe as far as I can tell. This year, I decided to investigate if it was possible to make mincemeat without including it - and it appears it is absolutely possible. Feeling inspired  by this discovery - and having a little more time on my hands due to lessened work hours - I decided to try making my own suet-free mincemeat. I've made my own jams, jellies and marmalade over the years, but for some reason I've never attempted mincemeat before.

In my research I'd found that there's quite a bit of variation in the ingredients of mincemeat. Some recipes included slivered almonds, some cranberries, some mixed peel - and some didn't. Most recipes included alcohol (although there are alcohol-free recipes too), but some used brandy, some whisky, some rum, some port... Mary Berry's suet-free mincemeat recipe substitutes butter for suet, and some vegan versions advocate using margarine or coconut oil instead, but many recipes forego any fat at all.

In the end I decided I could afford to experiment as long as I kept some rough guidelines as to the proportions of ingredients.

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 31

Moonroot's Home-made Suet-free Mincemeat Recipe

1 Bramley apple, peeled and cored
125g Raisins
125g Sultanas

125g Currants

A few finely chopped glacé cherries (optional - I put them in because I love them, but I know many people don't!)

Juice and zest of half a lemon

Splash of orange juice

100g sugar (I used Light Muscovado for extra flavour)

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

A generous splash of your favourite alcohol (I used Cointreau because it was all I had in the house, but use which ever you like - Whisky, Brandy, Rum, Sherry, Port etc)

Method:

Roughly grate the apple into a mixing bowl. Add the dried fruit, sugar and spices and stir well. Pour over the lemon and orange juice and stir in the grated lemon zest. Cover the bowl tightly (I used a saucepan lid) and heat gently for an hour. I did this by placing the bowl on the Rayburn (but not on the hotplate), or you could put it in a cool oven or warm gently on the hob. This will allow the dried fruit to soak up all the lovely spice-infused apple, lemon and orange juice. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before stirring in the alcohol. Spoon into sterilised jars and screw on tight-fitting lids. The alcohol should preserve the mincemeat, but I've opted to keep mine in the fridge to be on the safe side.

This makes a fruity, citrussy mincemeat that I'm very pleased with - but you can adapt the amount of fruit juice/sugar and tweak the other ingredients to tailor the finished product to your own tastes.

Notes:

You can play quite a bit with the ingredients, substituting or adding other dried fruits such as cranberries, chopped apricots or figs. Many mincemeat recipes include nuts - I didn't have any, but you could use chopped almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans or brazils. There's room to experiment with the spices too  - ground cardamom or ginger might be nice. It's important that you add the alcohol last, after the mixture has cooled to ensure the alcohol doesn't evaporate. If you'd like an alcohol-free version, substitute apple juice but bear in mind that alcohol-free mincemeat won't keep as long. 

Using mincemeat

• Traditionally it's used as a filling in small individual shortcrust pastry mince-pies but you can also use it in small or large pies and tarts made with shortcrust, puff or filo pastry.
• Use it as you would jam or jelly in cakes, muffins, traybakes or Bakewell tart
• Mincemeat goes really well with apples, so use it to stuff apples before baking them, or add some mincemeat to an apple pie or crumble
• It also combines well with marzipan, as in this Mincemeat and Marzipan Tart
• There are more lovely ideas here.

Don't forget to leave a mince pie out for Santa on Christmas Eve - it's traditional!