Traditional British Food, Part 22: Mincemeat

Have you ever made an obscene quantity of a food almost everyone you know claims to abhor? Personally, I get a perverse satisfaction out of making things that seem horrific, like pease porridge or anything made with chicken livers. I also recently stirred up six quarts of mincemeat. Expect several mincemeat recipes in a few weeks. If you'd like to scare your holiday guests (and perhaps expand their palettes in the process), here's my mincemeat recipe:

1 pound vegetable shortening, frozen then grated butter or shredded suet
1 pound eating apples (Gala, for example), peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 pound chopped dried dates (they come already chopped in 8-ounce boxes)
1 pound dried currants
1 pound raisins
1 pound golden raisins
1 pound golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons mixed spice
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
juice of lemon and orange plus brandy to equal 1 quart

Mix everything together in a huge bowl (it makes 6 quarts, remember?) and cover. Leave in a cool place for 3 weeks, adding brandy if needed.

In case you don't have a set of kitchen scales, I just might have some extra mincemeat I could send your way...

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Last week, I finished all twenty-two hours and twenty-five minutes of The Pallisers (I started it this summer), which ran on Masterpiece Theatre back in the 1970s. Television technology had advanced quite a bit since The First Churchills. Parts of The Pallisers are even filmed outside. It can be slow in places and there were times when I didn't much feel like watching it, but it turned out to be quite pleasant viewing. Only recommended for die-hard fans of Masterpiece Theatre, 19th century British novels or Parliamentary politics. Keep an eye out for Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons (pre-Brideshead, in very similar roles).