mincemeat pie

[nardo]

Had a good combo lastnight, a slice of mincemeat pie, and a pour of Ezra Brooks 90 proof. The pie had a homemade lard crust and the filling was fresh from a local grocery store. The taste of the two was excellent! The swwet and tangy pie was enhanced by the slight nuttyness of the Bourbon.
Mincemeat is one of my favorite pies (cherry is another) The wife and I are going to try to make some old fashioned mincemeat this year using venison. Anyone got a good recipe?

I keep getting flashbacks to the movie version of "State Fair" where veryone keeps adding more bourbon to the mothers mincemeat and she ends up winnin the plaque at the fair!

[ratcheer]

Sounds like a perfect combination!

Tim

[JeffRenner]

The wife and I are going to try to make some old fashioned mincemeat this year using venison. Anyone got a good recipe?

So many people don't realize that real mincemeat filling is made with meat. It's much better than the store-bought.

When I got my first deer in '74, I made up a bunch of venison mincemeat and canned it and gave it as presents, including to my then 78 year old grandmother, who pronounced it excellent. I used the recipe in our 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking (my mother-in-law gave it to my wife as a shower gift but I became the family cook within a couple of years and am the only one who uses it ). It doesn't use bourbon, but suggests "seasoning" with brandy before serving. Bourbon sounds better!

The recipe calls for chopped beef or ox heart, but I used ground venison.

I found a similar recipe online. The main difference is that the recipe I followed adds a gallon (!) of sour cherries plus juice (good for Michigan agriculture, so use 'em - available frozen) and two pounds of broken nut meats. Also, the original was cooked slowly for two hours and sealed in sterile jars. That is certainly a no-no by modern standards, although I suspect that the pH will be lowered by the vinegar to a safe level. The online recipe calls for 15 minutes of cooking and then 20 minutes of pressure canning.

Jeff