Mincemeat Pie

Name: Mincemeat Pie
Yield: makes one 9-inch deep-dish pie
Ingredients: 1 recipe Plain Pie Pastry (page 17) or Vinegar Pie Crust (page 19); 2 1/2 cups Mincemeat (recipe follows); 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted; 1 pound lean beef chunks; 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper; 8 ounces beef suet; 2 1/2 pounds York or Stayman apples, peeled, cored, and sliced; 4 ounces candied citron; 3 1/2 cups seedless raisins; 3 1/4 cups currants; 2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar; 3 cups apple cider; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice; Juice of 1 lemon

January 24, 2012

Image may contain Cutlery Fork and Plant

Photo by Chelsea Kyle

Bonnie Cash, a customer at Mrs. Rowe’s, says, “When my husband used to travel on business and was in Staunton, he always ate lunch or dinner at Rowe’s. He ate there so often that on one occasion Mildred told him she wanted to cook dinner for him and invited him home to eat. He would never eat mincemeat pie. Well, she served mincemeat pie and he ate it so as not to disappoint her. It turns out that it is also now a favorite during the holidays. I must admit he never had eaten ‘real’ mincemeat before.” This mincemeat is about as “real” as it gets. According to Grace Firth in her book Stillroom Cookery: The Art of Preserving Foods Naturally, “Mincemeat is a salute to the triumph of nature and humanity’s ingenuity in bringing it all together in pie.” Because making mincemeat is an undertaking, make a huge batch of it, keep it in the refrigerator, and make fresh pies all season long.

Recipe notes

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