Victorian Minced Pie

My recipe is much better (says I), but here is a nineteenth century version, which was served at John and Bryony Simons' Christmas Eve wedding reception.

Adapted from Miss Beecher’s domestic receiptbook: designed as a supplement to her Treatise on domestic economy.

Minced Pie

2 ½ pounds tongue or lean beef

1 ½ pounds suet

8 good-sized apples

2 pounds raisins

2 pounds sugar

2 gills of rose water

1 quart wine

Salt, mace, cloves, and cinnamon, to the taste

Boil the meat and chop very fine. Chop the suet and the apples very fine. Stone the raisins, cutting each into four pieces. Dissolve the sugar in the wine and rose water, and mix all well together with the spices. Twice the quantity of apple improves the pies, making them less rich. Line your plates with a rich paste, fill, cover, and bake. Measure the spices used, to save tasting the next time, and to prevent mistakes.

From "Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles From 'Bryony'"

All proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties. www.bbbswillgrundy.org

Order the cookbook at www.bryonyseries.com/Dalton_s_Dry_Goods.html