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!
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@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.
