Having lived in the UK for several years, I have got used to the idea of Christmas jumpers, Christmas music, an increasingly bigger crowd making their pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Christmas market, and even the anticipation some people feel over Black Friday. As I sought help from my trusty chefs for vegetarian Christmas recipes, the topic of various popular Christmassy foods naturally slipped in. I felt compelled to offer my opinion as someone asked how I feel about mince pies.
How does one argue that mince pies are perhaps some of the most confusing UK foods for foreigners? I was so sure I was certain what ‘mince’ meant and so assumed the infamous Christmassy treat was savoury. To my comfort, a European friend shared that he tried a mince pie also expecting it to have a minced meat filling. He struggled to get over how it tasted nothing like that until now. I was even more comforted when I found out that, at a certain point, one wouldn’t be wrong assuming that mince pies had minced meat in them…
A mincemeat tart.
Recipes from the 19th century (and before) have shown that mutton or pork were common ingredients for the pie fillings along with dried fruits (and some have thrown in hard-boiled eggs and cheese), hence the name mincemeat pies. Dried fruits were expensive and exotic for a significant period of UK history, so it was a very lush treat only for certain days of the year. Modern mincemeat is mostly associated with dried fruits, nuts, spices and brandy. Some modern recipes still use beef suet.
Different regions and people of the UK all seem to see mince pies differently. Some say it’s all about the pastry, some say there’s too much pastry while some cannot handle any that are not in all butter pastry. I prefer the flattened type rather than the deep-filled ones. Some have found that they like the cheaper ones because the expensive ones have too much alcohol for their tastes.
The other bizarre seeming Christmas tradition I’ve learned about is that in Yorkshire it’s not uncommon for locals to have their Christmas cake with a slice or two of Wensleydale cheese! Every culture has its different food battles & debates – the Americans battle over turkey stuffing, my family think we have the best Chinese New Year menu and here there is the battle of the mincemeat fillings.
Sara’s mincemeat frangipane tart.
There is no one mince pie to rule them all just yet, but there are now many different types to try with fillings such as spiced apple mincemeat, frangipane, tangy citrusy ones with peel and the cherry bakewell adaptation. All that being said, I have to say that my favourite mince pie is made by our catering chef Sara. The mincemeat frangipane tart she served at our recent community Christmas meal was really incredible!
