“There are some things...as Mince Pies at Christmas, Pancakes at Shrovetide, Pig at Bartholomewtide, Goose at Michaelmas, and the like; which though in themselves of no moment, nor worth the mentioning, yet being usual at those Seasons, are missed by Servants if not had, and when had, satisfy and content them.”
This is advice, from a bishop to a gentleman, was put to print in 1697 as part of the general household instructions found in The Government of a Wife, or, Wholsom and Pleasant Advice for Married Men in a Letter to a Friend. I leave you to determine whether any of the advice would still be useful but passages such as this establish that mince pies and Christmas have a long and vital relationship.
That being the case, I am undertaking a humble if somewhat involved attempt at my own period authentic version of these holiday staples. I am drawing on various printings of four different recipes ranging from the 1670s to the 1760s. If I am honest, I am waiting for the key ingredient to thaw – I could only find it frozen, so I present the recipes with a little context.
I will begin with what is probably the simplest, though explaining where it came from is not quite the same prospect.
In a printing of The Accomplish'd Ladies Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery from 1686 comes these instructions:
“To make a Minced-Pye.
Take a Leg of Mutton, or a neats-Tongue, and parboyl it well, the Mutton being cut from the bone, then put to it three pound of the best Mutton-Suet shred very small; then spread it abroad, and season it with Salt, Cloves and Mace, then put in good store of Currans, great Raisins and Pruans clean washed and picked, a few Dates sliced, and some Orange-peels sliced: then being all well mixt together, put it into a Coffin, or many coffins, and so bake them, and when they are served up open the Lids, and strew store of Sugar on the Top of the Meat, and upon the Lid.”
You have a meat – mutton leg or cow tongue; suet; the seasoning - salt, cloves and mace; along with fruit elements – currants, raisins, prunes, dates and orange peel. They are put in one or more coffins, a strong free-standing pastry case and sugar is added.
The Accomplish'd Ladies Delight that houses this recipe is attributed to Hannah Wooley (not to be confused with Hannah Glasse whose story is not that dissimilar, a century or so later) but there is no real evidence it was hers. That said, much of her work was appropriated by other authors and printers while she was seemingly not above did the same. Whoever wrote the book, it survived into other printings like the one above from 1719, complete with the recipe and a spurious engraving of the woman.
Going back in time a little to 1678, in the book of cookery teacher Mary Tillinghast, we find another mince pie recipe. I happened to take some pictures of a 1690 copy of this book at the Bodleian in Oxford. I was not anticipating this work on mince pies and did not capture the full recipe, so have included the transcribed text.
“How to make Mince Pyes.
To every pound of Meat, take two pound of Beef suet, a pound of Currants, and a quarter of an ounce of Cinnamon, one Nutmeg, a litle beaten Mace, some beaten Cloves, a little Sack & Rose-water, two large Pippins, some Orange and Lemon-peel cut very thin, and shred very small, a few beaten Carraway-seeds, if you love them, the Juyce of half a Lemon squeez'd into this quantity of meat; for Sugar, sweeten it to your relish; then mix all these together, and fill your Pie. The best meat for Pies, is Neats-Tongues, or a Leg of Veal; you may make them of a Leg of Mutton, if you please; the meat must be parboyl'd, if you do not spend it presently; but if it be for present use, you may do it raw, and the Pies will be the better.”
Tillinghast adds leg of veal to your choices of meats; cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as possibly caraway seeds, to the seasoning. There are liquid additions: Sack or fortified wine, rose water and lemon juice (and its peel.) She used pippins or dessert apples in the place of a variety of dried fruits.
A few years later, in 1700, the anonymous Whole Duty of a Woman includes, amongst its copious and varied instructions, another take on the Christmas recipe.
A calf’s chaldron in this case is entrails or probably tripe. The currents retain their place again, marrow is given as an option to suet and the orange and lemon peel are candied. Canary is Canary sack, sack often came from the Canary Islands and was so called. Bread crumbs are included seemingly in place of other fruit.
The final recipe I take inspiration from is found in Elizabeth Raffald’s The Experienced English House-keeper. Raffald was a businesswoman and inventor and this book when through thirteen authorized editions and probably at least twice as many unauthorized ones. This first edition of the book was seen in 1769 but it was still in print well into the nineteenth century.
Conforming to a general trend, this later recipe has more detailed instructions in terms of time and measures, which is helpful for a modern conversion. Neat’s tongue is the only option given in the meat department. Suet, currants and citrus peel are consistent through the recipes but brandy replaces other spirits. Overall, Raffald’s instruction seems to represent most of the other recipes and will therefore be the basis of mine, though lemon juice will serve for the brandy.
Thus, in my next entry I will provide details of my minced beef tongue Christmas pie that will include the tongue; suet; dessert apples; currants; raisins; mace, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; candied orange and lemon peel; lemon juice and sugar.
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