Marguerite
Active Member
Australia is perhaps a bit closer to its English roots. We get mince pies at Christmas time. These days they are made with fruit mince; rarely do we get any meat products in it. The pies are very small, more like a palm-sized tart (or smaller) and sprinkled with sugar. They are supposed to be a sweet pie.
The origin - cold weather, plus the need to preserve food for winter. People would chow down big time for Christmas and all the really nice things that had been put aside and preserved would come out. And yes, originally mince pies contained minced meat product (usually suet - the fat) mixed with sugared, dried, alcohol-ed fruit such as citrus peel, raisins, figs etc. The combination of sugar and alcohol preserved it, the fruit improved the taste. And the nutrition - you got carbs, fat (necessary in cold climates), protein vitamins and fibre.
As I said, these days most fruit mince contains no meat product.
But my mother-in-law's Christmas pudding recipe contains suet. I've helped make suet puddings. You NEED the suet to be there, it preserves the pudding. You grate the suet (freeze it first, it makes the job easier) and mix it with the dried fruit which has been soaking in alcohol. Mix in the flour and other ingredients. Every member of the family should stir the mix at this time. If you want to (and they're safely made of pure silver) you put in coins or pudding charms at tis point. You then wrap the whole mess up in a cloth and tie it firmly into a cloth-covered ball. Hang it to dry for a bit, then boil it. It should be boiled in a big enough pot (saucer on the bottom of the pot of water to stop the pudding from burning on the bottom) for a total of 6 hours. mother in law boils it for five hours, then hangs it up for a couple of months. That way the final boil-up only takes an hour (one more to go) and the pudding can then be served hot, with custard, brandy sauce, whatever. Or you pour over hot brandy and light it. Absolutely delicious - but totally insane, for a scorching summer Aussie Christmas!
The purpose of the suet - as the pudding boils, the tiny suet pieces evenly distributed will render down and form a sort of coating to shield the pudding and prevent it form going soggy. The excess fat leaches out and floats to the top, what remains is good. And remember, you add fat to a cake mix, or biscuit mix.
Some people squeamish about suet use butter instead. Trust me - it just doesn't work as well.
And if you make your pudding in about September and the thing goes mouldy while it's been hung in the laundry - don't throw it out. It's OK. The mould is only on the cloth (and you didn't use enough suet, did you?)
Just scrape it off before you boil it. When you remove the cloth, the pudding will be perfectly OK. It might have a small soggy patch though, if you were light-handed with the suet.
A good pudding will hold its shape once the cloth is removed and will taste fabulous.
husband likes to save about half the pudding in the freezer, he gets it out mid-winter for a treat.
It's also possible that he might stop by to add his own info on suet, mince and puddings - he's the dessert chef in our family.
As for bone marrow, gelatine etc - I make osso bucco using the proper cut, which requires the marrow in the bone to be mixed through. It really boosts the flavour and the texture of the dish, in a really good way.
If you're squeamish about that, then how can you ever eat crabs, prawns, oysters etc?
Although I do draw the line at brains. And brawn.
Marg
The origin - cold weather, plus the need to preserve food for winter. People would chow down big time for Christmas and all the really nice things that had been put aside and preserved would come out. And yes, originally mince pies contained minced meat product (usually suet - the fat) mixed with sugared, dried, alcohol-ed fruit such as citrus peel, raisins, figs etc. The combination of sugar and alcohol preserved it, the fruit improved the taste. And the nutrition - you got carbs, fat (necessary in cold climates), protein vitamins and fibre.
As I said, these days most fruit mince contains no meat product.
But my mother-in-law's Christmas pudding recipe contains suet. I've helped make suet puddings. You NEED the suet to be there, it preserves the pudding. You grate the suet (freeze it first, it makes the job easier) and mix it with the dried fruit which has been soaking in alcohol. Mix in the flour and other ingredients. Every member of the family should stir the mix at this time. If you want to (and they're safely made of pure silver) you put in coins or pudding charms at tis point. You then wrap the whole mess up in a cloth and tie it firmly into a cloth-covered ball. Hang it to dry for a bit, then boil it. It should be boiled in a big enough pot (saucer on the bottom of the pot of water to stop the pudding from burning on the bottom) for a total of 6 hours. mother in law boils it for five hours, then hangs it up for a couple of months. That way the final boil-up only takes an hour (one more to go) and the pudding can then be served hot, with custard, brandy sauce, whatever. Or you pour over hot brandy and light it. Absolutely delicious - but totally insane, for a scorching summer Aussie Christmas!
The purpose of the suet - as the pudding boils, the tiny suet pieces evenly distributed will render down and form a sort of coating to shield the pudding and prevent it form going soggy. The excess fat leaches out and floats to the top, what remains is good. And remember, you add fat to a cake mix, or biscuit mix.
Some people squeamish about suet use butter instead. Trust me - it just doesn't work as well.
And if you make your pudding in about September and the thing goes mouldy while it's been hung in the laundry - don't throw it out. It's OK. The mould is only on the cloth (and you didn't use enough suet, did you?)
Just scrape it off before you boil it. When you remove the cloth, the pudding will be perfectly OK. It might have a small soggy patch though, if you were light-handed with the suet.
A good pudding will hold its shape once the cloth is removed and will taste fabulous.
husband likes to save about half the pudding in the freezer, he gets it out mid-winter for a treat.
It's also possible that he might stop by to add his own info on suet, mince and puddings - he's the dessert chef in our family.
As for bone marrow, gelatine etc - I make osso bucco using the proper cut, which requires the marrow in the bone to be mixed through. It really boosts the flavour and the texture of the dish, in a really good way.
If you're squeamish about that, then how can you ever eat crabs, prawns, oysters etc?
Although I do draw the line at brains. And brawn.
Marg
