James wrote:

>Hey any one got a simple recipe for old fasioned meat mince meat.
>Sistrer-in-law used to make some with beef tounge and pork.
>need small recipe to make empanaditas.

Great-Grandma Taylor's Mincemeat

This is simple enough, although there's a lot of ingredients. However, the
hardest work is grinding the meat and chopping stuff; the rest is mostly
combining it all. You make the filling a week ahead of time; it needs to
ferment that long before using. No refrigeration is mentioned, as this is
a family recipe from the late 1800's, when they didn't worry too much
about that sort of thing. (plus there's all that brandy.) But Mom made
this every year while I was growing up, and my brother never got sick
after eating all the bites he snuck from the bowl sitting on the kitchen
counter! <g> I have *no* idea of the amount this yields, as I've never
made it myself. (I hate mincemeat, LOL.) The full recipe makes a *lot*.
Mom usually cut the recipe by 1/3, see notes, and had enough for 2 big
pies; that was about a couple of quarts. So cut as necessary. I'll let
you do the math, as you may only need something like 1/8th of a recipe -
who knows? As long as you keep the proportions correct, should be no
problem. She didn't leave any instructions as to how long, or at what
temperature, to bake pies, either. Probably 375F, around an hour or 1-1/2
hours for 9" pies, I'm guessing. Empanadas, maybe 45 mins?? I'd suggest
checking some other empanadita recipes with meat fillings, or times for
things like meat-filled Cornish pasties or pierogis, to get an idea. Mom's
'updated' notes on changes she made are at the end of the recipe.

Great-Grandma Taylor's Mincemeat

1 lb. lean meat
2 lbs. seeded raisins
2 lbs. currants
5 lbs apples, peeled and diced
1/4 lb. orange peel (no notes on whether grated or chopped)
1/4 lb. lemon peel (ditto)
1/2 gallon cider
1 lb. suet (deleted by Mom; diced, originally? no idea.)
1 lb. seedless raisins
1/2 lb. citron
3 lbs. brown sugar or honey to taste
1 quart brandy
1 tspn. nutmeg
1 tspn. cinnamon
1 tspn. mace
1/2 tspn. ground cloves
1/2 tspn. allspice
1/2 tspn. ginger

Boil meat in water to cover until tender. Strain off broth. Grind meat and
combine in large bowl or crock with rest of the ingredients. Cover and let
sit long enough to ripen, about 1 week, stirring once each day. If brandy
is used, it doesn't need to be canned. (NB: if you don't use it all after
that 1 week, definitely freeze or can it!)

Mom's notes:

I have cut the recipe to 1/3, combined the raisins (she means she just
used regular, seedless raisins. you could also try a mix of regular and
golden raisins.), use Radiant Mix for the various citron, omitted the
suet, used stew meat or whatever is available. A dry wine can be used, but
I prefer the brandy.

NB again - Radiant Mix is usually available in US grocery stores around
Christmas; basically a mix of different colored candied citron peel. A
Google search for 'candied citron' brought up several on-line supply
sources, as well as purely informational websites. Seems to be several
health food stores selling it, as well as gourmet cooking suppliers.

Monica
cmmpdx2 at aol dot com


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