Mincemeat

There is truly nothing to beat home made mincemeat, which is nothing like that anonymous brown slurry you get in jars.... it's so easy to make, too!   I adore this recipe, it's one of Claire Macdonald's, and contains no suet, so is perfect for vegetarians.  As she points out, we don't need the extra calories, and the mincemeat is so good anyway, it doesn't need the fat.

The recipe below makes a fair amount, but make it now, and you will find it goes quickly if you give it to people as pre-Christmas presents, or make mince pies for friends, school, church or the TA!   It also keeps for a year, going dark and alcoholic.  I just refresh mine with more alcohol, and consider it to be "vintage".

In her recipe, Claire specifies quantities of raisins, peel, sultanas and currants.  For simplicity, I add the lot together (2lb 10z/1.180kg) and buy bags of mixed fruit, adding extra peel to make up the difference!

Kinloch Mincemeat

Kinloch Mincemeat

1lb 8oz/700g raisins

6oz/175g chopped mixed peel

12oz/350g sultanas

6oz/175g toasted flaked almonds

6 medium sized eating apples, unpeeled, cored and chopped

12oz/350g soft dark brown sugar

8oz/250g dried apricots, chopped

1tsp nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice

grated rind and juice of 2 oranges plus 2 lemons

¼ pint/150ml brandy, whisky or rum (this is a minimum!)

Mix everything together well and leave in a large covered container, stirring once or twice a week for three weeks.  Then pot and seal in jars. 

I prefer a finer texture mincemeat and can’t be bothered to cut everything by hand, so blitz it all in a food processor in batches until the individual pieces are about the size of chocolate chips.   You can do this at any time before potting it!   Feeding with extra alcohol is also a bonus…. 

There are many more exciting new recipes (at least 30 exclusive to the book) in my new book "Kate's Puddings, the Cookbook of the Blog" - simply click on:  http://www.parkersprint.com/kates%20puddings.html