Mince Pies (1906)
Reader ratingsMrs Beeton’s mince pies from her 1906 Book of Household Management: suet, currant, raisin and apple mincemeat with candied peel and a little brandy, baked in puff pastry and dredged with sugar.
- Recipe makes
- 12 pies
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
Beeton keeps her mincemeat for a month before using it. Ours can be used at once, or made ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to a week. The pies cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Mince pies dredged with sugar.
The story behind the recipe
Mrs Beeton wanted her mincemeat made a month before anyone baked with it. At Cape Evans on June 22, 1911, mince pies came to the table straight after the flaming plum pudding, and Scott called them “excellent.” With the plum pudding, they were the Christmas half of the menu.
Mincemeat with no meat
The mincemeat in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, in its 1906 edition, is suet, currants, raisins, chopped apples, sugar, sultanas, candied peel, lemon rind, brandy and a little nutmeg, mace and cinnamon, a pound of most of them at a time. Its only meat is the beef suet. The lemons are pared thin and the rinds simmered “until perfectly tender,” then pounded or rubbed through a sieve, and the whole mixture is pressed into a jar to keep “in a cool dry place for at least 1 month before using.”
The pies themselves get a single paragraph: puff paste a quarter of an inch thick in large patty-pans, the lids brushed “lightly with cold water” and dredged with sugar.
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Making it today
Our batch is an eighth of Beeton’s, enough for twelve pies. We keep the mincemeat in the refrigerator, and it can go straight into pies, though a few days give the fruit time to soak up the brandy. The biggest change is the pastry: Beeton makes her own puff paste with six rounds of rolling and folding, and we use bought all-butter puff pastry, rolled thinner because it arrives already layered. Shredded suet from a packet works in place of fresh.
The pies end the sweet part of the meal in What Did Scott’s Men Eat for Midwinter at Cape Evans?, and the Croûtes of Cod’s Roe (1906), the savory, came after them.
Ingredients.—Puff paste (No. 1665), mince meat (No. 1740, or 1741).
Method.—When the paste has had the necessary number of turns, roll it out to about a ¼ of an inch in thickness, and line some large-sized patty-pans with it ...
Ingredients.—1 lb. of finely-chopped suet, 1 lb. of currants washed and picked, 1 lb. of raisins stoned and quartered, ...
Recipe makes: 12 pies
Ingredients
For 12 pies. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 12 pies.
Mincemeat
- Lemon, rind only, thinly pared1/4
- Beef suet, finely chopped or shredded2 oz
- Currants2 oz
- Raisins, chopped2 oz
- Cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped2 oz
- Superfine (caster) sugar2 oz
- Golden raisins (sultanas)1 oz
- Candied mixed peel, finely chopped0.5 oz
- Brandy3/10 fl oz
- Ground nutmeg1 pinch
- Ground mace1 pinch
- Ground cinnamon1 pinch
Pies
- All-butter puff pastry1.25 lb
- Flour, for rolling
- Cold water, for brushing1/2 fl oz
- Superfine (caster) sugar, for dredging0.5 oz
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 0.25 lemon, rind only, thinly pared
- 2 oz beef suet, finely chopped or shredded
- 2 oz currants
- 2 oz raisins, chopped
- 2 oz cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
- 2 oz superfine (caster) sugar
- 1 oz golden raisins (sultanas)
- 0.5 oz candied mixed peel, finely chopped
- 0.3 fl oz brandy
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground mace
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- 1.25 lb all-butter puff pastry
- Flour, for rolling
- 0.5 fl oz cold water, for brushing
- 0.5 oz superfine (caster) sugar, for dredging
Equipment
Small saucepan- Mortar and pestle, or a fine sieve
- Mixing bowl
- Clean jar with a lid
- 12-hole muffin or tart pan
- Round cutters, about 3½ and 3 inches
- Rolling pin
- Pastry brush
Instructions
For the mincemeat, put the pared lemon rind in the small saucepan with water to cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until perfectly tender. Drain it and pound it to a paste, or rub it through the sieve.
In the mixing bowl, mix the lemon paste with the suet, currants, raisins, apple, sugar, golden raisins, candied peel, brandy, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon until evenly combined. Use it now, or press it into the jar, cover and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
To make the pies, heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry about ⅛ inch thick. Cut a base with the larger cutter and a lid with the smaller one for each pie, rerolling the trimmings once if needed.
Press the larger rounds into the pan. Share the mincemeat among them, about a heaped tablespoon each, and cover with a smaller round, pressing the edges together. Cut a small slit in each top. Chill the lined pan for 15 minutes so the pastry holds its shape.
Brush the tops lightly with the cold water and dredge them with the sugar for dredging.
Bake on the lowest shelf for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry has risen and is deep golden, underneath as well. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift out onto a rack. Serve warm or cold, as Beeton allows.
Nutrition
315calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 12 pies
- Servings
- 12
Estimated per pie from USDA FoodData Central values for the listed ingredients, counting about 1 lb of the pastry and leaving out the trimmings.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Each pie takes about 1 oz of mincemeat. Beeton’s full batch is eight times this one.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Beeton’s puff paste (her no. 1665) is a pound of flour to a pound of butter with a teaspoon of lemon juice, rolled and folded six times with rests in between; it does the same job as the bought pastry here. Her second mincemeat (no. 1741) uses less suet, raisins and sugar, cloves as well, and the juice as well as the grated rind of the lemons. Pies keep for 3 days in a tin, and reheat in a moderate oven. Contains wheat and milk; beef suet is not vegetarian.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After Isabella Beeton, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, new edition (London: Ward, Lock, 1906), Mince Pies (no. 1716) and Mincemeat (no. 1740)
Recipe details
- Course
- Dessert
- Dish family
- Desserts & Sweets
- Region
- British
- Era
- Edwardian
- Source decade
- 1900s
- Main ingredient
- Fruit
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Occasion
- Christmas
- Season
- Winter