Mincemeat
Mincemeat is a mixture of spiced chopped fruits. Traditionally mincemeat has contained meat, although many modern recipes omit it. This recipe, however, does contain beef.
Ingredients
- 6–8 pounds (2.7–3.6 kg/about 30 ea.) Baldwin apples
- stew beef (neck, plate, etc.)
- 1 whole lemon, seeds removed
- 2 cups (160 g/5.6 oz) seedless black raisins
- 4 cups (900 g/2 lb) sugar
- 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 Tbsp dried coffee (regular or decaffeinated)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (250 ml/8.5 oz) cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cups (375 ml/12.7 oz) meat stock
- 1 ½ cups (500 g/1.1 lb) sorghum molasses or regular molasses
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Core apples; remove the seeds, but don’t peel.
- Cube meat and cover with water. Simmer until tender; this may take up to an hour.
- Remove meat and cook the stock down to the amount needed, or thicken slightly with cornstarch.
- Run meat through a food mill (medium or coarse blade), or grind to an equivalent fineness in a food processor.
- Cut lemon in half and remove seeds. Purée the whole lemon in a blender, rind and all, with some of the liquid ingredients, or process as finely as possible in a food processor.
- Grind the apples (or process using a coarse blade—but not too fine).
- Combine the apple, meat, and raisins in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
- Add the sugar, spices, liquids, and lemon purée to the meat and apples. Use hot meat stock to rinse the last of the molasses into the mixture. Stir thoroughly.
- Cook slowly, uncovered, stirring often to prevent burning until the mixture is pasteurized and enough of the liquids have evaporated to produce the texture and thickness you want in the finished mixture.
- Let cool, then stir in the ground pepper.
- Refrigerate, allowing the spices to mellow for several weeks.