Making Mincemeat and Memories

My grandmother and great grandmother made mincemeat when I was a child. I love REAL mincemeat pie with real beef in it. I had never made it myself, but after attending a salad luncheon this week with loads of pies (but no mincemeat) my mother and I decided we should attempt making some mincemeat.
We gathered up all the ingredients and thought the cost was pretty expensive. However it all averaged out to less that $5 a pie. The recipe calls for "Beef- cooked and ground". So I am thinking..."can't we used ground chuck and boil it instead of frying it". Not sure how it would work, but we had the ground chuck on hand so decided to make 2 batches and attempt the recipe with ground chuck as well as a beef roast. The recipe calls for "beef suet". For those of you who do not know what suet is...it is FAT.  But oh my gosh, it makes a delicious mincemeat pie. This can usually be purchased at a meat market or meat locker. Some grocery stores may have it, but it may require it to be ordered a head of time. The recipe also called for "boiled" apple cider. Not sure what is up with that, but mom and I didn't boil the cider. We thought maybe in the "olden days" cider was not pasteurized as it is now.

The Recipe
Mincemeat Pie Filling


2 lbs Beef (cooked and ground)
1 lb Beef Suet (ground)
5 lbs Apples (peeled, cored and diced) Jonathans work best
2 ½ lbs brown sugar
2 lbs Raisins
2 T. Cinnamon
1 T. Allspice
1 t. salt
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiled apple cider
1 t. lemon extract


Mix all ingredients. Heat slowly to boiling point. Simmer for 1 hr. uncovered. Freeze or process in jars @ 10 lbs pressure for 90 minutes. 


Both batches of mincemeat turned out great. We made pies from both batches. The price difference between the ground chuck and beef roast was not significant enough to make a difference on choice. However, doing a taste test, the ground chuck was the favored pie, 8-0. The ground beef was much quicker and easier.
It took all afternoon to make our mincemeat. The best part about the afternoon was making more memories.  I don't imagine this will be the only time we make mincemeat. One day, I will tell my granddaughters about this day while I teach them to make mincemeat.

Ground suet and simmering mincemeat