Thread: Elizabethan mince pie - 1571 recipe

Want a 'traditional' mince pie, then try this, Its actually not as awful as it sounds.

Elizabethan Mince pie - serves 8 - 10

Filling
680g (1 1/2lb) lean mutton or beef
110g (4oz) suet
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground mace (google it)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of saffron
60g (2oz) raisins
60g (2oz) currants
60g (2oz) stoned prunes (chopped)

for the pastry
455g (1 lb) plain flour
2 teaspoons salt
110g 94oz) lard
4 tablespoons milk

for the glaze
1 tablespoon each of b utter, sugar and rosewater melted together

mince the meat (assuming you didn't buy ready minced) and mix in the suet, spices, pepper, daffron and dried fruit.

To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt together, make a well in the centre. Heat the lard, 140ml (1/4 pint) water and milk untill boiling and pour into the well. Quickly beat the mixture together to form a soft dough and kneed until smooth on a lightly floured board. Cut off 1/4 and keep covered till required to make the lid.
Mould the large piece of pastry to form the mas and sides of the pie in a 20.5 cm (8 inch) diameter 5cm (2 inch) deep loose bottomed tin. Pack the meat into the pie, dampen the edges of the pie wall. Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid and press into place. Trim the edges, using the surplus pastry for decoration, and cut a hole in the lid.
Bake in the centre of an oven heated to gas Mark 7 (425 f, 220 C) for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to Gas mark 4 (350 f, 180 C) for an hour. remove pie from tin and brush with the glaze. then return to oven for a further 15 minutes.

Serve Cold.

Not suitable for vegetarians.

sounds rather good.... one to pass onto the missus...!