Homemade Mincemeat Pie Filling

Mincemeat pie is the quintessential traditional Thanksgiving pie. Mincemeat pie is a love it or hate it dessert. If you love mincemeat like we do, you probably know that it is expensive. Here's an easy recipe for homemade mincemeat pie filling.

Mincemeat pie is named so, because traditionally mincemeat contains stewed, shredded beef. Mincemeat developed in the middle ages as a way to preserve meats and prevent them from spoiling. Similar to smoking meat, pickling it in a brine, like herring or corned beef or salting it away like salt pork, beef cooked in stewed fruits and spices could be stored for a time also. The cooked fruits formed a sort of brine for the beef. When the mincemeat filling was baked into a pie, the pie was a dinner pie, such as steak and kidney pie or the more modern pot pie. Mincemeat pie was the entree.

My original recipe called for a pound of stew beef stew meat to be cooked with the fruit and spices. For reasons of taste and for vegetarians and vegan diners, I've omitted the stewed meat from the recipe. If you've a yen for a good old medieval dish, add a pound of stewed beef to your recipe. I have done this in our homeschool when we were studying medieval Europe. But for the rest of us, here's the modified fruit only version.

nice cups cooking apples, peeled, cored and quartered (Macintosh, Jonathan, Ida Red, Jonamac, Granny Smith apple varieties make the best cooking apple; my personal favorite being the wonderful macintosh from my home state of Michigan.)

4 ounces suet

2 1/2 cups of sugar (I like Florida Crystals)

2 1/2 cups of water

15 ounce package raisins

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups dried currants (available near the packaged raisins; Sun-Maid makes packaged currants)

1/2 cups chopped or diced candied fruits with peels, also known as citron; these are the same candied fruits used in holiday fruitcake (available seasonally in most grocery stores).

1 teaspoon each shredded orange peel and lemon peel

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon mace

In food processor, grind apples and suet. Place all ingredients, including apple-suet mixture in a large kettle. Cover, simmer for forty-five minutes, stirring frequently. This recipe makes enough for 2 nine inch pies. Use four cups per pie. Bake with a double crust pie. If you are using frozen pie crusts, use two crusts, fill one and use the other on top.

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