A mince pie, alternatively known as minced pie, is a British small sweet pie consisting of a pastry shell filled with a sweet mincemeat filling, traditionally served at Christmas as a dessert
History
Mince pies were known by other names like mutton pie shrid pie, and Christmas pie. Cooking meat with spices, sugar, nuts and dates was a Middle Eastern method of cooking and Early European settlers brought the recipe with them when they returned from the Holy Land. These pies became very popular in Tudor England too as meat was cooked with spices, sugar and nuts and packed into pastry shells to make pies which lasted longer. The spices and sugar preserved the meat resulting in a sweet savory dishes. According to another legend, these pies were very large and made in oblong or rectangular shapes to resemble the baby Jesus’ crib. In different regions of England, goose meat, neat’s tongue, chicken, tripe, turkey, pigeons and duck meat was used as the stuffing according to availability. During the English Civil War, the mince pie was banned as it was connected to the Catholic religion. However, it soon came back into popularity. Due to hygiene standards, cooks slowly phased out the use of meat in the mince pie filling and only fruits, spices and dates were used to make the sweet filling.
Ingredients and Preparation
The mince pie is made with a suet based pastry shell. The shell is filled with a mixture of fruits, spices, nuts and candied peel covered with a pastry lid and baked. Traditionally, the mince meat filling is made two to three weeks before Christmas and left to marinate before being used.
Popular Variations
Minced pies have not varied much from the traditional recipe. The filling may use a range of nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts etc which are combined with spices, candied peel, dried apricots and figs. A few variations add rum, sherry and brandy to the fruit mixture. The pies may also be topped with sweet whipped meringue before being baked.
Trivia