Comments on: Vintage Recipe Thursday – Do you remember Real Mincemeat?

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:24:22 +0000

I bought an old cookbook online awhile back and it has a recipe for authentic mincemeat. The recipe calls for quite a lot of sherry and brandy in order to preserve the meat. But it also calls for the beef suet. After a few weeks of searching I was able to locate some through the local university’s butcher (I have no idea why the university runs a butchershop but it does). They’re practically giving it to me since they probably just throw it away. Now I’m just looking for the proper crock so that I can make some. Do you know if it needs to be a harsch (fermentation) crock? The recipe just says to put all the stuff in a crock, cover with the alcohol and let sit for a month or so (not refridgerated). It also says that it will store unrefridgerated indefinately.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:57:09 +0000

I remember my mom getting suet when she got a side of beef from the butcher. That was 30 years ago. I wonder if you contacted a real butcher (the kind that starts with a live cow) if you could find some. I have never had real old-fashioned mincemeat. These sound as though they would be quite tasty.

By: Joy @ Joy Of Desserts

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:59:27 +0000

Great recipes, Grandmother Wren. I looked for suet high and low a few years back, but could not find any, other than the kind for birds. I really wasn’t sure just how edible that would be for humans, and had to give up the search. Most people didn’t even know what I was talking about. Maybe if we could find a local organic farmer or butcher, they would be willing to sell us a bit.