Mincemeat Pie from 1747. A Meat Free Recipe!

 

   Mincemeat pies used to be synonymous with this time of the year. The flavor of this pie is refreshing like a burst of citrus and sunshine. That would be a beautiful flavor to experience in the dead of winter. It instantly reminded me of summers past despite being wrapped up to stay warm. 

   This particular recipe is meat free however some mincemeat pies of centuries past did include various cuts of meat such as beef or ox tongue. Hence the name mincemeat! Contrary to popular belief not all mincemeat pies of the 18th and 19th centuries contained meat. The addition of it was certainly mainstream however it was not required. Some families and recipes chose to opt out of adding meat due as a preference.

   The recipe that we will be using today comes from a mid 18th century cookbook called The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse. Originally published in 1747, this cookbook would later go on to be a bestseller for just about 100 years! That means that by the early 19th century The Art of Cookery was still a mainstay in American and European kitchens alike. 

An 18th century edition of The Art of Cookery. This cookbook would go on to be a bestseller for a century! It was still very popular in the early 19th century.

 

This is fruit-based pie. Gather the fruits that you will need for this dish. You will need candied orange, currants, raisins and apples. The exact proportions of which can be found in the recipe below. 

peel your apples

 

cut your peeled apples up as finely as you can manage

it looks delicious already and we haven't even assembled our pie yet

Into a bowl add chopped up raisins and currents. We used golden raisins however any will do. Be sure to cut they up with a knife before putting into your bowl. 

To this add your chopped apples, chopped orange peel and finely chopped beef suet. The suet will keep the pie moist. Also add your brandy, sugar and spices. 

On a well-floured surface roll out your pie crust. A recipe for which is below. The 1797 pie crust recipe that we used is from American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. Be sure that your crust is not too thick. You do not need to prebake this crust. 

Once your crust is to your liking and has been cut as you desire place into a pie pan and add your filling

crimp your edges to your liking

With your leftover dough I recommend cutting out designs for the top of your pie. We made two pies one of which had a flower pattern top and another which had a heart in the center surrounded by leaves. How lovely would it be to have one leaf to represent every member of your family gathered to enjoy it?

bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until your crust is a golden brown

It tastes as good as it looks!

If the above Youtube video does not work follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYxR_vaUvdY

Ingredients (yields 2 pies):

Filling:

1 lb of currants (may substitute with dried cranberries), chopped fine

½ lb of raisins (golden), chopped fine

1 lb of apples, chopped fine (3 medium or 2 large)

½ cup of candied orange peel (you can make your own or purchase)

½ cup of sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of nutmeg

¼ tsp of clove

1/2 cup of brandy

10 oz of suet (may substitute with shortening), frozen and chopped fine

Crust (1797 recipe):

half a pound of butter (the original calls for one pound however use  half for a modern adaption)

3 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 egg whites

1 egg yolk 

Directions: 

Crust: Rub half a pound of cold butter into 3 & 1/3 cups of flour. Beat 2 whites of eggs and add with a few spoonful's of cold water and one egg yolk. Make into dough and roll it out six or seven times. Chill in a cold place for at least half an hour before rolling out. Roll out onto a floured work surface.

Filling: Place all ingredients in a large bowl, with shortening added last. Mix with wooden spoon until all ingredients are combined. Add ½ of filling to your favorite pie crust recipe; you can make with two crusts or one. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or until pie is golden, if using a making a 2 crust pie. For a single crust, bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

1803 Flat Ginger Cakes! Low Sugar Gingerbread Cookies

 

The incredible simplicity of making these along with their addicting flavor has made these my favorite sweet of this season. I was skeptical when I found a recipe calling for gingerbread that had no added sweetener besides just molasses however these are plenty sweet and have a delightfully soft texture. 

These are called "short gingerbread" because they are intended to be cooked short like cookies instead of high like a cake. I am borrowing the recipe from the 1803 book The Frugal Housewife. Two options are given for how to make these short cakes. We can either use sugar as our sweetener and opt out on adding molasses or we can use only molasses and forgo any extra sugar. Most gingerbread recipes call for the addition of both molasses and brown sugar so this seemed unique not to mention economical. Let's try making them using only molasses. 

Mix together half a pound of melted unsalted butter with 1.5 cups of molasses. Your mixture should look like melted dark chocolate. 

Once your butter and molasses are mixed well add 3 and 1/3 cups of flour along with a tablespoon of ginger powder. Stir well. Optionally you may also add a spoonful of caraway seeds. If you decide to add them toast them first on a hot pan until they darken. The cakes taste great both with and without the caraway. 

Our cook was amazed by how simple the recipe was

Mix until your white flour is no longer visible

Roll your dough into balls and flatten onto a cookie sheet with your hands. If they are sticking rub flour on your hands before pressing. 

the kitchen smelled of molasses

 

Today we will bake these in both our reflector oven and our wall oven. You may bake these cookies in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Do not surpass 10 minutes. They will be soft to the touch once you take them from the oven. That is normal as gingerbread tends to slowly harden once removed from the oven. Not only are these simple to prepare they are also fast to cook!

half went inside of our reflector oven while the other half into the wall oven

If the above Youtube video does not work follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnkQeZzyy7Q

Ingredients:


3 & 1/3 cups of flour
half a pound of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of ginger powder
1.5 cups of molasses

Directions: 

Mix your melted butter and molasses together. Add a tablespoon dried ginger to your flour then mix well into your molasses and butter mixture. Roll into balls and flatten with your fingers onto a cookie sheet. If the dough is sticking to your fingers rub flour on your hands. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not exceed 10 minutes. They should remain soft to the touch once you take them out of the oven. Gingerbread will harden once you take it from the oven. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

A Gingerbread Cake From 1832. Gingerbread Lafayette

 

A cake with a story! Gingerbread Lafayette is named after General Lafayette, a French military officer who commanded American troops in the American Revolutionary War. George Washington's mother, Mary Ball Washington, served Lafayette this cake when he visited her towards the end of her life in Virginia. The cake has been honorarily named after him ever since. Today's version is from the 1832 book The Cook's Own Book.

Marquis de Lafayette, whom the cake is named after

Lafayette first met Washington on the 5th of August, 1777. They would become close friends.

Recipes for Gingerbread Lafayette have fluctuated between requiring the juice of either lemons or oranges to add a festive kick. As lemons became more popular and accessible in  the19th century they popped up into many cookbooks. The version which we will be cooking today calls for lemons. 

Pearl-ash is optional in this recipe. Today we will cook our cake without pearl-ash for the convince of the modern cook. However if you wish to add pearl-ash this will make the cake softer and delightful. Do not add lemons to your batter as this will make your cake bitter. Dissolve your pearl-ash in vinegar then mix in a teaspoon in your batter as the last step before pouring into your cake pan. 

our cook is softening up half a pound of unsalted butter with her hands

to begin cream together half a pound of soft butter with a little over one cup of brown sugar

once your sugar and butter are mixed well add 2 full cups of molasses. Don't mix yet as we will first add our spices. And there sure are a lot of spices! 

To this bowl let us now add our spices. It shall be quite a lot of spices but fear not in the end it all comes together beautifully. Add 4 tablespoons of powdered ginger, a tablespoon of cinnamon, half a tablespoon of allspice and half a tablespoon of powdered cloves. 

Now that you have added your spices you may mix

Mix well. It should start to look like chocolate pudding by this point. 

In a separate bowl whisk together 5 whole eggs

Mix in HALF of your eggs into your batter. We can not add all of the eggs at once or else it will flood the batter. Set your remaining eggs aside to add later.

The batter is beautifully smooth. We will thicken it up by adding flour. 

Let's add flour to thicken this up. Like with the eggs do not add all of the flour at once. We need to work towards adding a total 5.5 cups. Let's add only 2.25 cups at a time until we have made it to our 5.5 total. After adding the first 2.25 cups mix well then add your remaining eggs. Mix again then finally add the remaining 2.25 cups of flour. Doing this ensures that everything is mixed evenly.

Your batter will now be very thick and difficult to mix. This is a dense cake! The final thing which we will add is the juice and rinds of 2 lemons.

Be careful to pick out any seeds that fall into your batter

Give it one final mix. This is quite the workout! The batter is very thick. 

Pour your batter onto a well buttered flat pan. This is a sheet cake. 

It is ready to bake! 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. The cake should remain slightly soft to the touch once you remove it as gingerbread tends to harden post baking. We put ours inside of our wall oven along with gingerbread cookies from another recipe.

50 minutes later and our cake is done! Let's just let it sit for at least 10 minutes before we cut into it. 

Cut into squares and serve with cream. Enjoy!

If the above Youtube video dos not work follow this link:

https://youtu.be/d1z5DtuzQBs

Ingredients:

five whole eggs

a little over 1 cup of brown sugar, packed

half a pound of butter, softened

2 cups of molasses

5.5 cups of all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons of ginger

1 tablespoon of cinnamon 

half a tablespoon of allspice

half a tablespoon of clove

juice & peel of two lemons

Directions:

Cream softened butter and sugar. You may do this either by rubbing the two together with your hands or using an electric mixer. Pour the molasses into the creamed sugar. Add your spices and mix your batter. It should look like chocolate pudding. Beat 5 whole eggs in a separate bowl. Put in half of your eggs and stir. Now put in half of your flour (2.25 cups) and stir. Add the other half of your eggs and stir. Finally add the remaining flour and stir. Once your batter is properly mixed add the juice and rinds of 2 lemons and stir. Your batter will now be very thick. Butter a pan and bake for 50 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve with cream.