Mincemeat

[Mikey]

Come on then who makes their own?

This year I decided it was about time I did, I don't exactly have all the correct ingredients so will have to wait and see how it turns out. I substituted brandy for cointreau, well its orange isn't it?, and currants for cranberries, plus I added some ground almonds and lime and lemon zest as opposed to candied peel. Well......I do like to experiment.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Ah but did you kill your own cow?

Potty

[Mikey]

I didn't know you knew the missus pots.

BOOM, BOOM.

No seriously......there's no cow in my mincemeat, even the suet is vegetarian.

[northepaul]

And how does it taste then?
Have you fermented it?

I always make my own, following RC Pam Corbins Damson and Russett mincemeat this year - made September, its delish!

[scarey55]

I always make my own mincemeat, puddings and cake at Christmas. Living in France, I have to because they don't do it here. This year, I used Delia's recipe which was pretty good and last year I made my puddings with dates that had been soaked in brandy for over a week, just because I had some! Your recipe sounds pretty good to me, let us know how it turns out.

[Rhona]

I've made Gordon Ramsey's Claridges mince pies for the last four or five years. They're a bit of a faff but by far the nicest ones I've ever made. Stylishly Sated: It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

[julesapple]

I've made my own for years - each year I put any unused jarfuls into the fresh batch. Last year I found a jar dated 1996 - it was utterly fabulous. Full of flavour.

I've never used Cointreau but last year we made a batch in the brewer's bucket and all of the bottles in the booze cupboard with scant inches in them were poured into the mix; whiskies, Commandria, sherries, brandies, liqueurs, you name it. We sold a lot of it, but won't be using very much this year now that the main mincemeat eater is a diabetic.

As for dried fruit, I've used anything and everything I have to hand; dried dates, apricots, pears, apple rings, prunes, raisins, currants, sultanas, cherries glacé and dried, cranberries, peel, blueberries, pineapple, papaya, mango......it all works.

Yours might be very tangy with the lime zest, Mikey, sounds good.

I like to use shortcrust for the bases, but I'll top them with meringue, marzipan stars, streusel topping, grated frozen shortcrust pastry, puff pastry, frangipane, fondant icing stars, crumble mix.

Mincemeat flapjacks are very nice too!

[binley100]

I usually make my own but because of one thing or another haven't had time this year........made a huge batch of pastry today then started making pies........got 3 doz done and ran out of mincemeat.. even used some winter fruit marmalade in some (well it has different fruits and whiskey in it) . Unused pastry has now gone in the freezer .........

[Alison]

I always make my own, following RC Pam Corbins Damson and Russett mincemeat this year - made September, its delish!

I made that one this year - as you say it really does need a good two or three months to get the flavour really going. I never make one with suet in as I'm not really that keen on the stuff and prefer something lighter. Have made the one that Earthbabe posted on here years ago in the past and funnily enough found a jar of it in the back of my jam cupboard the other day from about 3 years ago but not tried it to see what it was like.