I am joining in a Blog Hop with Helen Hollick today, December 21st 2013 - the longest night
Entitled: Casting Light Upon the Darkness
Theme is shedding light on something puzzling or
unknown.
My contribution...
Shedding Light on a Traditional Pie!
One of the things I love about Christmas and that is
mince pies. Many months before the festive season is even thought about, I
prepare my own mincemeat, adding my own measures of spices and fruit and always
left soaking in lashings of brandy. Then a couple weeks before Christmas I make
my first batch of mince pies, to test of course!
But did you know that the mince pie has its ingredient
traceable back to the 13th century when returning European crusaders brought
with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meets, fruits and spices?
The early mince pie was known by several names, including
mutton pie, shred pie and Christmas pie. Typically its ingredients were a
mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits and spices - cinnamon, cloves
and nutmeg.
But no matter where your mince pie comes from, enjoy!
Thank you for stopping by wishing you and all your loves ones a very Merry Christmas!
Now take a peek at the other fabby posts on this special day....
- Helen
Hollick : A little light relief concerning those dark
reviews! Plus a Giveaway Prize
- Alison
Morton : Shedding
light on the Roman dusk - Plus a Giveaway Prize!
- Beth
Elliott : Steering by the Stars. Stratford Canning
in Constantinople, 1810/12
- Melanie Spiller : Lux
Aeterna, the chant of eternal light
- Janet
Reedman The Winter Solstice Monuments
- Petrea
Burchard : Darkness - how did people of the past cope
with the dark? Plus a Giveaway Prize!
- Richard Denning : The
Darkest Years of the Dark Ages: what do we really know? Plus a Giveaway
Prize
- David Ebsworth : Propaganda
in the Spanish Civil War
- David Pilling : Greek
Fire - Plus a Giveaway Prize!
- Debbie
Young : Fear of the Dark
- Derek Birks : Lies,
Damned Lies and … Chronicles
- Mark Patton : Casting
Light on Saturnalia
- Tim Hodkinson : Soltice@Newgrange
- Wendy
Percival : Ancestors in the Spotlight
- Judy Ridgley : Santa and
his elves Plus a Giveaway Prize
- Suzanne
McLeod : The Dark of
the Moon
- Katherine
Bone : Admiral Nelson, A Light in Dark Times
- Christina Courtenay : The
Darkest Night of the Year
- Edward
James : The secret life of Christopher
Columbus; Which Way to Paradise?
- Janis Pegrum Smith : Into
The Light - A Short Story
- Julian
Stockwin : Ghost Ships - Plus a Giveaway Present
- Manda Scott : Dark
into Light - Mithras, and the older gods
- Pat Bracewell Anglo-Saxon
Art: Splendor in the Dark
- Lucienne
Boyce : We will have a fire - 18th Century protests
against enclosure
- Nicole Evelina What Lurks
Beneath Glastonbury Abbey?
- Sky Purington : How
the Celts Cast Light on Current American Christmas Traditions
- Stuart MacAllister (Sir Read A
Lot) : The Darkness of Depression
18 comments:
You've made me hungry now and I haven't baked any yet! Better put it on the list...
Well done, Pauline, two major winter festivals celebrated in a single post! My purist friend once made mince pies from a Victorian recipe that used real meat, and actually they were surprisingly nice. I suppose all the alcohol and sugar stops it going off. Think I'll be sticking with the modern ones though!
Hello Wendy, thanks for stopping by and enjoy your mince pies :)
Hello Debbie, mmm they sound ok, but like you, I'll stick the ones we are used too. Thanks for stopping by. :)
I love making mincemeat too - it makes the house smell lovely and Christmassy! Of course, I leave out the meat for a veggy alternative - not the brandy though.
How interesting, Pauline! Do you have a favorite recipe you'd be wiling to share?
Hello Lucienne, thank you for stopping by. In mincemeat there is no meat! Have a wonderful Christmas.
Hi Nicole, I love cooking so I have many and always happy to share. Have a wonderful Christmas.
Fascinating! When I was researching for The Jacobites' Apprentice I came across the interesting fact that, in 1745 (and presumably a lengthy period before and after) there was no such thing as a wedding cake but, rather, a Wedding Pie - also made from meats, fruit and spices baked in pastry. And inside there would be a glass ring. The person finding the ring (and hopefully neither chewing or swallowing same) would be the "next person to be wed".
Hello David, thank you for that, very interesting and thanks too for stopping by. Have a wonderful Christmas.
I'm glad the minced meat has been replaced by all the fruit. Your post has made me feel hungry for some truly festive fare. Happy Christmas.
I'm afraid I don't like mince pies at all, but they look delicious and very festive :-)
excuse me while I raid the cupboard for the mince pies my daughter made!
Hello Beth, enjoy your festive fare and wishing you a very merry Christmas.
Hi Christina, thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful Christmas.
Hello Helen, enjoy :)
My mother used to make these pies but I don't think they had meat in them. They're not as common now but I'd love to try a good one again!
You're making me lust for a slice!
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