Title: Mince Pies (Scottish Elizabethan)
Categories: British Medieval Meat Pie
Yield: 3 Lb mince

		** British Measurements **
8	oz	Lean veal or beef; cooked
8	oz	Cooking apples
8	oz	Raisins; stoned
2	oz	Dates; stoned
8	oz	Beef suet; shredded
8	oz	Currants
1	oz	Candied lemon peel; finely
		. chopped
2	ts	Ground mace
1	tb	Sugar
3	tb	Rose water
3	tb	Sherry

Mince the meat, cooking apples, raisins and dates into a bowl. Add the suet, currants, peel, spice and sugar and mix together well. Moisten with the rose water and sherry. Put a spoonful of mincemeat in patty tins lined with shortcrust or puff pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg white and add pastry lids, pinching the two edges together. Make a small slit in the centre of each pie and glaze the top with egg white. Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a hot oven (425oF / 220oC / gas mark 7) for about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Makes about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of mincemeat. ** A Book of Historical Recipes ** : by Sara Paston-Williams The National Trust of Scotland, 1995 ISBN = 0-7078-0240-7

Scanned and formatted for you by The WEE Scot -- pol mac Griogair ORIGINAL RECIPE::

Shred Pyes (dated from 1699 AD)

"Take 4 pound of a legg of veal parboyled, 4 pound of Beefe suet, 6 pared Aples. Shred altogether, put it through a sieve, season it with 4 pounds of Currans, an ounce of beaten Mace, halfe pound of sugar, six dates, Lemon Pills candyed, a Gill of Rose Water, as much sack; make them up; a quarter of an hour will bake them."

Historical note: The recipe for these shred or minced pies harks back to Elizabethan times when they had already become part of traditional Christmas fare. Most mincemeat recipes until the 20th century included a little chopped meat sometimes raw, sometimes cooked.

From: Fred Ball Date: 30 Nov 96 National Cooking Echo Ä

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