There are some excellent ready-made versions available (including ones made with vegetarian suet) but nothing beats homemade, and it’s very simple to make. Mincemeat often requires an overnight ...

Mincemeat could be savory or sweet and was often eaten as a pie around Christmastime. Suet, or processed animal fat, was also traditionally added to mincemeat. The fat was stripped from the bones ...

Mince pies, once baked, will keep for a few days in an air-tight tin but the bottoms may become soggy. You can make the pastry ahead and freeze it for up to a month so it's ready to roll when you are.

The pies themselves, originally known as ‘chewettes’, were filled with minced meat, suet, dried fruits, and spices, encased in a hard pastry crust designed to preserve the contents.

made largely of minced meat, usually mutton or beef, plus suet, dried fruit and spices – very much a rich person’s dish." As with much of the food at Christmas – both in the 16th century and ...

Recipes for mincemeat were similar to those of the Middle Ages, although the pastry was by then edible. Standard recipes contained shredded suet, currants, prunes and spices such as caraway, cloves ...

Vegetarians can also make this mincemeat happily using vegetarian suet. Make up the pastry by sifting ... the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, then roll half of it out as thinly as possible.

The only reminders of mince pies’ meaty history are the name, and the suet (kidney fat) which is still found in many recipes but can be replaced with butter for vegetarians. If you’re not avoiding ...

So what exactly does it take to recreate the mouth-watering mince-pies at home? Ingredients zest and some juice of 1 unwaxed ...