This is a full-size tart version of the Christmas Mince pie tartlet, and being a tart, it has an open top.
The earliest type of Mince pie was called a Chevette, and it contained chopped meat, or fish on feast days, mixed with hard-boiled eggs and ginger. These were either baked or fried. Other early Mince pie names were: Mutton pie; Shrid pie; and Christmas pie. In Tudor times, Shrid pies were formed from shredded meat, suet and dried fruit. In the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance times it was usual to eke out the meat content of the pie with dried fruit, and it became a Christmas speciality.
In fact, the reduction of meat content was a slow and steady process through the years to date. In fact, from the mid-17th Century, the beef was either partially or completely replaced by suet. In Victorian times (late 19th Century) the recipe became sweeter and the size of the pie became smaller. In fact, it wasn’t until the 19th Century that the distinction between mincemeat and mince, or chopped meat into shreds, was made. This was when the meat began disappearing from the mincemeat recipe, resulting in the Mince pie tartlets as they are known today.
The mincemeat ingredients stem from the 13th Century when returning Crusaders brought back Middle-East recipes that contained meats, fruits and spices. These contained Christian symbolism, representing gifts borne by the Magi to the baby Jesus. Later, at the time of the English Civil War, Mince pies, or Christmas pies as they were then known, were associated with supposed Catholic ‘idolatry’ and were frowned upon by the Protestant authorities.
Nowadays, mincemeat is a mixture of chopped apples, dried fruits, distilled spirits (such as brandy), spices and optionally, meat and beef suet. Traditional mincemeat recipes contain meat, either beef or venison, as this was a way of preserving meat prior to modern preservation methods. Going a step further, modern recipes often replace the suet with vegetable shortening or other oils, and omit the meat. However, traditional meat-based mincemeat is prepared by some baking authors. English recipes from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries describe a fermented mixture of meat and fruit used as a pie filling. These early recipes included either vinegars or wine as the fermenting agent, and by the 18th century, distilled spirits, such as brandy, were often substituted. The use of spices such as cinnamon, clove, mace, and nutmeg, was common in late medieval and renaissance meat dishes. The increase of sweetness from added sugar made mincemeat less a savoury dinner course and pushed it towards being a dessert.
In the mid- to late eighteenth century, mincemeat in Europe had become associated with old-fashioned, rural, or homely foods, and, in the late 19th Century saw it rehabilitated the preparation as a traditional Yuletide treat. It was then that ‘apple mincemeat’ became popular, it being a more ‘hygienic’ alternative. This mincemeat used apples, brown sugar, currents, suet and raisins, as well as spices such as: allspice, and mace, as well as using lemons, orange juice, and apple cider.
A recipe for apple mincemeat appears in a 1910 issue of The Irish Times, made with apples, suet, currants, sugar, raisins, orange juice, lemons, spice and brandy.
There is also a similar recipe using green tomatoes instead of apples to create mincemeat in the 1973 book, Putting Food By, written jointly by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan.
Mincemeat is aged to deepen flavours, with alcohol changing the overall texture of the mixture by breaking down the meat proteins, for those versions still using meat as an ingredient. Preserved mincemeat may be stored for up to ten years.
Components:
Sweet crust type Pastry dough shell
Mincemeat filling (2 types (meat and meat free))
Decoration (optional)
Place the filled tart pan in the oven, and immediately reduce the temperature to 200°C (392°F)),
Bake until the rim of the tart shell browns lightly, approximately 20 – 25 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180°C (356°F), and continue baking for at least 20 minutes longer.
The Mince pie tart is baked when the any exposed pastry surface is golden brown, and the mincemeat filling is bubbling.
Remove the Mince pie tart from the oven, if necessary, carefully separate the crust from the tart pan with the tip of a paring knife. Slide the tart pan onto a wire cooling rack. Allow the Mince pie tart to cool in the tart pan for at least 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the tart pan rim. Let the Mince pie tart cool to room temperature before sliding the removeable base from underneath the tart, and slide the Mince pie tart onto a serving dish.
Enjoy!!! (for Christmas time, you may want to eat the Mince pie tart with Brandy butter, or even custard).
The earliest type of Mince pie was called a Chevette, and it contained chopped meat, or fish on feast days, mixed with hard-boiled eggs and ginger. These were either baked or fried. Other early Mince pie names were: Mutton pie; Shrid pie; and Christmas pie. In Tudor times, Shrid pies were formed from shredded meat, suet and dried fruit. In the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance times it was usual to eke out the meat content of the pie with dried fruit, and it became a Christmas speciality.
In fact, the reduction of meat content was a slow and steady process through the years to date. In fact, from the mid-17th Century, the beef was either partially or completely replaced by suet. In Victorian times (late 19th Century) the recipe became sweeter and the size of the pie became smaller. In fact, it wasn’t until the 19th Century that the distinction between mincemeat and mince, or chopped meat into shreds, was made. This was when the meat began disappearing from the mincemeat recipe, resulting in the Mince pie tartlets as they are known today.
The mincemeat ingredients stem from the 13th Century when returning Crusaders brought back Middle-East recipes that contained meats, fruits and spices. These contained Christian symbolism, representing gifts borne by the Magi to the baby Jesus. Later, at the time of the English Civil War, Mince pies, or Christmas pies as they were then known, were associated with supposed Catholic ‘idolatry’ and were frowned upon by the Protestant authorities.
Nowadays, mincemeat is a mixture of chopped apples, dried fruits, distilled spirits (such as brandy), spices and optionally, meat and beef suet. Traditional mincemeat recipes contain meat, either beef or venison, as this was a way of preserving meat prior to modern preservation methods. Going a step further, modern recipes often replace the suet with vegetable shortening or other oils, and omit the meat. However, traditional meat-based mincemeat is prepared by some baking authors. English recipes from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries describe a fermented mixture of meat and fruit used as a pie filling. These early recipes included either vinegars or wine as the fermenting agent, and by the 18th century, distilled spirits, such as brandy, were often substituted. The use of spices such as cinnamon, clove, mace, and nutmeg, was common in late medieval and renaissance meat dishes. The increase of sweetness from added sugar made mincemeat less a savoury dinner course and pushed it towards being a dessert.
In the mid- to late eighteenth century, mincemeat in Europe had become associated with old-fashioned, rural, or homely foods, and, in the late 19th Century saw it rehabilitated the preparation as a traditional Yuletide treat. It was then that ‘apple mincemeat’ became popular, it being a more ‘hygienic’ alternative. This mincemeat used apples, brown sugar, currents, suet and raisins, as well as spices such as: allspice, and mace, as well as using lemons, orange juice, and apple cider.
A recipe for apple mincemeat appears in a 1910 issue of The Irish Times, made with apples, suet, currants, sugar, raisins, orange juice, lemons, spice and brandy.
There is also a similar recipe using green tomatoes instead of apples to create mincemeat in the 1973 book, Putting Food By, written jointly by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan.
Mincemeat is aged to deepen flavours, with alcohol changing the overall texture of the mixture by breaking down the meat proteins, for those versions still using meat as an ingredient. Preserved mincemeat may be stored for up to ten years.
Components:
Sweet crust type Pastry dough shell
Mincemeat filling (2 types (meat and meat free))
Decoration (optional)
Baking
Place the filled tart pan in the oven, and immediately reduce the temperature to 200°C (392°F)),
Bake until the rim of the tart shell browns lightly, approximately 20 – 25 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180°C (356°F), and continue baking for at least 20 minutes longer.
The Mince pie tart is baked when the any exposed pastry surface is golden brown, and the mincemeat filling is bubbling.
Remove the Mince pie tart from the oven, if necessary, carefully separate the crust from the tart pan with the tip of a paring knife. Slide the tart pan onto a wire cooling rack. Allow the Mince pie tart to cool in the tart pan for at least 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the tart pan rim. Let the Mince pie tart cool to room temperature before sliding the removeable base from underneath the tart, and slide the Mince pie tart onto a serving dish.
Enjoy!!! (for Christmas time, you may want to eat the Mince pie tart with Brandy butter, or even custard).
