Christmas in western European culture (and probably elsewhere too), and certainly in Britain and British-influenced places, is the one time of the year when we still eat, slightly weirdly, almost-authentic medieval foods.
A great example of this is the humble mince pie, which is a meatless descendent of the mediaeval 'great pie', which has not just the familiar fruit and spices but minced beef any any sort of other meat too.
Traditionally, they were made to be eaten on Twelfth Night (6th January), marking the end of the 12-day Christmas festive period. They're definitely too much to eat on Christmas Day if you're also into turkey (bread sauce, turkey's delicious accompaniment, btw is also very authentically mediaeval).
So because I've got far too much time on my hands, I made one to test it out before inflicting it on anyone I want to keep as my friends.
You'll need a lot of shortcrust or hotwater pastry (I used egg-enriched shortcrust because I only had access to gluten free flour, which is wonderful for people with gluten intolerance but rubbish if you're used to the normal kind!), plus: 1 egg white; 8oz of meat (chicken, rabbit, pigeon, ideal) - boiled in salt water for about 10 minutes then thinly sliced when cool; 8oz beef mince 1 tbsp shredded suet 2 hardboiled egg yolks 1tbsp total of ground cinnamon, mace/nutmeg, ground cloves (I used about this but the spice is barely detectable, so this can probably be increased if you like) 1-2oz chopped dates 1-2oz currants 1-2oz chopped prunes 2floz beef stock 1/2tsp rice flour/cornflour.
This will make a pie that will easily feed 6-8 people and rather more if it's one dish among many. Best served cold.
Owing to my pastry shortcomings I lined a 7inch cake tin with most of the pastry leaving enough for a lid. Mix together the minced beef, suet, salt and pepper to taste, about half the spice mix, and the egg yolks. Add the rest of the spices to the dried fruit in another bowl. Heat half of the beef stock then add the flour, then the rest of the stock, to make a relatively thick sauce. Cover the bottom of the pastry with the beef mixture,
then arrange the sliced meat on top, and then the fruit/spice mixture.
You can keep back some of the mince for the very top as well.
When the stock is cool-ish (but not so cool it's all stiff and gloopy), pour over the contents. Then put a lid on it, (if being more authentic/patient than I, spend time on some fun pastry decorations!), brush with the egg white, and then bake for 15 minutes at 220C/425F, then for another 45 minutes at 160C/325F.
It's delicious with mustard, I've discovered. And pictures don't do it justice.
It's easy to keep up traditions that have meaning. But rediscovering lost ones takes real style.
Or that's what I keep telling myself...
PS. Be warned because there's no gelatine in it, the contents can be a bit crumbly so it's best to cut thick slices and then divide those up further if needed!
My mother was born in Wales and we had minced pie during the Christmas season for New Years. Not on Christmas day since that was reserved for carrot pudding. If eating our home grown turkeys with all our home grown vegetables was not enough after we were all stuffed we had extremely filling carrot pudding with a cream sauce. It was so good!!!
@hippyjoe1955 See I keep TELLING people that Christmas pudding should have carrot in it. Thank you so much <3
SW-User
What a fabulous recipe. I've written it down to try. I believe in medieval times, the pastry was different, being more like a thick flour based case and intended to be used more as a cooking vessel than something to eat. It was refined over the years with the addition of fat for shortening so it became edible. Today is also stir-up Sunday, traditionally many families in Britain make their Christmas puddings and the Christmas cake together. I love to cook from scratch so usually do too but this has been the first year I haven't. We are in the process of moving house - hopefully this Friday!! Pudding basins etc have already been packed.
@SW-User Good luck with the move! And with the pie when you get the chance!
According to my research (ie articles on medievalist.net), pastry was actually very varied in the middle ages, and they did eat more of it than we imagine.
But yes a LOT of pastry recipes start with "make a coffin" - which means make very tough hot-water-crust-like pastry (kind of like in a modern pork pie but drier and harder), which was just a disposable and waterproof container to cook the meat in.
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded.
goes the prayer in the Book of Common Prayer for today. Ie, get the pudding on. 😋
Of course it means we should have had the sprouts boiling for Xmas day about 3 weeks ago, but the Church of England never reminds about that one.
SW-User
@Lhayezee Thank you. I will let you know how I go with the pie. 😊
My paternal Grandma made the very best Mincemeat pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Still a family tradition of sorts but not the same. She tried to teach my sisters how to make it but her recipes were just based on experience. A little of this, a handful of that....LOL. Thanks for reminding me.
I think that’s how many cooked back then. My grandmother used a bowl ( any bowl would do if you stay with that bowl) for measuring plus’s a pinch of this or smidgeon of that . 😂 you can’t get an actual recipe from them. But yummy stuff. @bowman81
Pie is now all eaten and very delicious she was. I suggest though, if anyone is considering making one themselves, to mix some of the fruit in with the mince, as the mince layer on the bottom was deliciously-flavoured by quite dry. (Alternatively, just eat it with a little wholegrain mustard, because that's sublime too!)
@ninalanyon Try some of these alternatives https://substitutecooking.com/substitutes-for-suet/
edit - short answer, I suggest either lard or gelatine, or failing that, butter. You want something that, when cool, will go solid again and hold everything togther.
I wouldn't recommend using vegetable oil though! It won't set when the pie cools down and just make the pie very oily.
If lard or butter, just cut it up into very small pieces and use as you would the suet.
As an alternative you could also use gelatine - if it's the "leaf" kind then at a guess probably only one leaf, just soften it in cold water then heat it in maybe a tablespoon of water so it dissolves, then pour over the pie contents with the stock at the end. I've never used powdered gelatine so if you end up with that I guess just follow the instructions! (Or if you google 'pork pie recipes' find one that uses gelatine and use that in the same way)
Using gelatine would be completely authentic (they certainly had it in the middle ages!), but I've not come across pie recipes that use it. Mostly it was either used in colourful moulded puddings (just like we might find jelly/Jell-O at children's parties today!), or to preserve meat or fish as an alternative to salting it.
I'm sorry, didn't mean to write a whole article here!
@Lhayezee No apology needed! It's this kind of practical advice that makes the internet valuable. I'm grateful for the reminder that gelatin could be used. I'm a great fan of pork pies (they are amongst the first things I buy when I visit England!) so I don't know why I didn't think of that.
Turkey is not traditional in Britain and Europe though, and was not even known in Mediaeval times. It is an American species and it's really only relatively recently (19C?) it started to appear over here.
For centuries, the traditional Christmas fowl was the goose.
@Lhayezee I expect you are right but as you say, finding the butcher would be difficult!
I cannot think of any in my local town centre. There is one beyond that, about five miles away. The only other one I know is (if still in business) some 15 miles away.
That sounds good, I have not tried that but I like what we call mincemeat pies . Basically all the ingredients are the same. Not counting all the flour ( bread stuff) ours has the pie crust with the mincemeat inside ( the mincemeat is made is made long before and but in jars or canned to keep until it’s used ) I like bread so your pie sounds even better to me but not sure about the gluten free idea . 😂 Thanks , I may try this this year.
@Repete I had no idea that people ate mince pies in the US with actual meat in them!
Assuming it's something that came over in the early colonial period and just never went away (or like in the UK, lost the meat and kept the fruit and spices) - that's actually really interesting because it's my hypothesis that the (very stereotypical i know!) American obsession with cinnamon is actually a holdover from mediaeval Europe, where it was a very expensive spice and so therefore a status indicator.
I also agree with you - don't use gluten-free flour! It has an important place for people with intolerances but it's a nightmare if you're used to regular flour haha (it's all that I could get hold of last time I went shopping)
I actually like what we call mincemeat squares. These are a lot thinner pie crust covers the bottom of a cookie sheet or pan, a thin layer of mincemeat then another layer of pie crust . But with yours having more flour and like a bread added that sounds great .@Lhayezee
@bhatjc Yeah possibly but being kind of dry by our standards is probably quite authentic. The fruit (prunes and dates) give it a lot of moisture still actually...the taste was excellent but it wilted under pressure when I was trying to photograph it!
@MarkPaul and @MartinTheFirst it wasn't as dry as it looks (the harsh light didn't help the aesthetics!). In fact the fruit makes it quite moist. The problem is (was - it's now all gone) is the mince at the bottom which WAS a bit dry (though also delicious), so if making it again I'd mix some of the fruit into the mince.
Or just eat it with mustard (which is what I did).
it's worth saying that mediaeval food WAS very dry by our standards, but they had a whole array of sauces they ate with their food. I recommend making cameline sauce (google it), if you're wanting to be authentic - which is a red wine/vinegar sauce not that dissimilar from modern BBQ sauce, and would probably go quite well.
