Mince pies for the holidays

Mince pies are a holiday tradition across Britain. Today, the miniature pastries are filled with sweet, dried fruit, but in Shakespeare’s time they also included meat. Food historian Sam Bilton thinks the savory version is due for a comeback. In her new book, Much Ado About Cooking, produced with Shakespeare’s Globe, Bilton includes a recipe for a mince pie made with lamb and spiced with cloves and mace, the outer casing of the nutmeg and one of her favorite spices with a flavor she describes as “more citrusy than nutmeg.”

Perhaps you’ll add Bilton’s mince pies to this year’s holiday menu? Pro tip: we’ve heard that if you stir the mincemeat clockwise, you’ll be guaranteed good luck in the year ahead.

Mince Pies

Ay, a minc’d man; and then to be bak’d with no date in the pie, for then the man’s date is out.
—Troilus & Cressida, Act I, Scene 2

Recipes for minced pies in this era contained meat along with the dried fruit and spices we are familiar with today. It is not nearly as odd as it sounds—think North African tagine vibes. It’s also a great way to use up leftover cooked lamb or mutton.

Makes 12 pies

Ingredients

• 300g/10oz cold, cooked mutton or lamb, finely chopped
• 200g/7oz mixed dried fruit e.g. currants, raisins, prunes, orange peel
• ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground mace
• 50g/2oz beef suet
• 25g/1oz/⅛ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Seville orange or lemon juice
• 5 tbsp lamb or chicken stock
• 1 quantity rough puff pastry from page xx or 500g pre-made puff pastry
• Beaten egg to glaze

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients bar the pastry together.
2. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin. To help get the pies out once they are cooked you can line each hole with a strip of baking paper, leaving two ‘tails’ poking out. Preheat the oven to 200℃/180℃ Fan/400℉.
3. Roll the pastry out to a thickness of 3mm/⅛in. Stamp out 12 x 10cm/4in rounds and 12 x 8cm/3in rounds. Use the larger circles to line the holes in the muffin tin.
4. Divide the veal filling between the pastry cases (any leftover mixture can be frozen). Attach the lids with a little beaten egg, then make a small hole in the centre of each pie for the steam to escape.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from the tin. These pies can be served at room temperature but are best served warm.

About the author

Sam Bilton is a food historian, author and presenter of the award-winning “Comfortably Hungry” and “A is for Apple” podcasts. She has written books on the history of gingerbread, saffron and chocolate, and writes articles on food history for a variety of print and online publications.  She has also hosted several Shakespeare-themed supper clubs over the years.

You can find out more details about Bilton on her website:
sambilton.com