I’ve utilized a variety of mincemeat recipes and developed my own utilizing the most scrumptious and affordable combinations (though this recipe is actually fairly classic). You are free to create any combinations that are practical and affordable for you. Include anything in season as well as any leftovers you may have (such as cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving, breakfast oatmeal, stale bread, etc.). It appears that mincemeat will go with everything and yet taste exquisitely the same. Therefore, for the love of God, make whatever adjustments that will help you save money, albeit you may leave the quantities roughly the same.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch pie |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ cup ground suet (white beef fat)
- 4 apples – peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup brandy
- ¾ cup raisins, chopped
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped
- ½ cup chopped dried mixed fruit
- ½ cup candied mixed fruit peel, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Place the ground beef into a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir until the beef is well browned, about 10 minutes, breaking it up into small crumbles as it cooks. Drain excess fat.
- In a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat, mix the cooked beef, suet, apples, brown sugar, brandy, raisins, walnuts, dried mixed fruit, mixed fruit peel, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Stir the mincemeat until thoroughly combined and the sugar has dissolved, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the flavors have blended and the mincemeat filling is thickened, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
- Use as mincemeat pie filling.
- Note on suet: I have found that it works very well to simply take the juices from when you cooked the meat, and put it into a jar ’til it solidifies; use only the white fat on the top and not the grease below. Also just using butter works very well. Surely, though, suet is the best — I think you can get it for free at grocery stores.
- If you decide to use white sugar instead, put in a spoonful of molasses or sorghum.
- Surely if you don’t want to use so much brandy, you may use half brandy and half cider, or some other fruit juice (or even water, really). You could also use only juice, of course, but it’s especially nice with brandy or rum.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 569 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 60 g |
| Cholesterol | 43 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 334 mg |
| Sugars | 34 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is very close to what I recall my grandmother making. I did cut the allspice back to 1/4 tsp. The next time I will use 6 apples since I thought there could me more filling in a 9″ pie and I may cut the sugar back to 3/4 cup, but those are personal choices and no reflection on the recipe. Thanks, Rosa!