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minoanmissI CONQUERED THE MINCEMEAT (with RK's considerable help)
So my conjecture that the sugar 1) prevented the water from boiling down and 2) carbonized, leading to everything carbonizing, turned out correct. Not all the money my parents spent on my education was wasted! [1]
Here's how I rearranged the recipe:
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless lean beef or venison (cut down to 1.5 pounds)
1 pound beef suet (1 cup beef tallow for cooking)
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and cored (1 bag dried apples)
1/2 pound dried figs, chopped
1/2 pound pitted dates, chopped
2 pounds golden raisins (reduce to 1)
2 pounds dried currants (reduce to 1)
1/2 cup candied citron peel (reduce the peels to 1 cup total)
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup candied lemon peel
add: zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 orange
2 cups boiled cider (replaced with 3 cups cider plus enough water to cover beef)
1 cup dark rum
4 cups beef stock (left out)
1 cup molasses (cut down to 1/2)
1.5 cups light brown sugar (cut down to 1/2 to 1 cup, to taste)
1 cup currant jelly
2 teaspoons salt (cut down to 1)
the following spices were ground from whole:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (replaced with allspice because me)
3/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp black pepper
freestar
Instructions
Place beef or venison in a shallow pan and brown on all sides under the
broiler. [I did not do this] Transfer to a large nonreactive pot and cover by two inches in cold water. (Instead use cider and add water to just cover. bake at 250 for four hours or 225 overnight.)
Cook, covered, over low heat for 2 1/2 hours or until tender enough to
shred apart with a fork. Lift the meat out and transfer to a plate. Cool,
then chop fine by hand or cut into chunks and chop in the food processor,
using brief pulses. SET ASIDE. (I took care to chop the beef agaisnt the grain, for small pieces rather than long shreds)
Finely chop suet. Add to beef cooking liquid. (Or use pre-rendered suet, aka beef tallow for lo carb cooking.) Finely chop apples, figs, and dates: add to beef cooking liquid. Add spices, raisins and currants. Finely chop citron, orange peel, and lemon peel and stir in. Add rum. Simmer till liquid is absorbed. (this did not take long. There was a truly absurd amount of plumped fruit in the pot)
add zest, molasses, sugar, and jelly, and stir over heat until simmering again. Mixture is sticky and HEAVY and makes ridiculous noises when stirred.
once at a simmer, add diced beef. Stir well.
Cook 5-10 mminutes till glazed and integrated. Jar up.
I have 4 scant-quarts and 1 pint and it's surprisingly delicious and I'm pretty pleased.
[1]running joke
So my conjecture that the sugar 1) prevented the water from boiling down and 2) carbonized, leading to everything carbonizing, turned out correct. Not all the money my parents spent on my education was wasted! [1]
Here's how I rearranged the recipe:
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless lean beef or venison (cut down to 1.5 pounds)
1 pound beef suet (1 cup beef tallow for cooking)
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled and cored (1 bag dried apples)
1/2 pound dried figs, chopped
1/2 pound pitted dates, chopped
2 pounds golden raisins (reduce to 1)
2 pounds dried currants (reduce to 1)
1/2 cup candied citron peel (reduce the peels to 1 cup total)
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup candied lemon peel
add: zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 orange
2 cups boiled cider (replaced with 3 cups cider plus enough water to cover beef)
1 cup dark rum
4 cups beef stock (left out)
1 cup molasses (cut down to 1/2)
1.5 cups light brown sugar (cut down to 1/2 to 1 cup, to taste)
1 cup currant jelly
2 teaspoons salt (cut down to 1)
the following spices were ground from whole:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (replaced with allspice because me)
3/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp black pepper
freestar
Instructions
Place beef or venison in a shallow pan and brown on all sides under the
broiler. [I did not do this] Transfer to a large nonreactive pot and cover by two inches in cold water. (Instead use cider and add water to just cover. bake at 250 for four hours or 225 overnight.)
Cook, covered, over low heat for 2 1/2 hours or until tender enough to
shred apart with a fork. Lift the meat out and transfer to a plate. Cool,
then chop fine by hand or cut into chunks and chop in the food processor,
using brief pulses. SET ASIDE. (I took care to chop the beef agaisnt the grain, for small pieces rather than long shreds)
Finely chop suet. Add to beef cooking liquid. (Or use pre-rendered suet, aka beef tallow for lo carb cooking.) Finely chop apples, figs, and dates: add to beef cooking liquid. Add spices, raisins and currants. Finely chop citron, orange peel, and lemon peel and stir in. Add rum. Simmer till liquid is absorbed. (this did not take long. There was a truly absurd amount of plumped fruit in the pot)
add zest, molasses, sugar, and jelly, and stir over heat until simmering again. Mixture is sticky and HEAVY and makes ridiculous noises when stirred.
once at a simmer, add diced beef. Stir well.
Cook 5-10 mminutes till glazed and integrated. Jar up.
I have 4 scant-quarts and 1 pint and it's surprisingly delicious and I'm pretty pleased.
[1]running joke
huzzah!
Date: 2024-10-12 07:01 am (UTC)Re: huzzah!
Date: 2024-10-13 03:30 am (UTC)I think I can send you a jar of this if you want. I have a plan to get it to you safely.
Re: huzzah!
Date: 2024-10-13 05:58 am (UTC)better you find happy eaters locally and save the shipping costs.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 09:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 09:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-12 04:09 pm (UTC)Right! It attracts random weirdos from the internet who appreciate your great big brain.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-14 03:15 am (UTC)Qapla'!
no subject
Date: 2024-10-15 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-16 08:59 am (UTC)500g lamb mince
500g raisins, sultanas, candied citrus peel, dried cherries and dried apricots - the peel, cherries and apricots chopped up to raisin/sultana size.
two tablespoons each of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. You can add sugar if you really want, I suppose, but I don't.
Rosewater
Olive oil and butter
Salt and fresh black pepper to taste
Shortcrust pastry - enough to cover the size of dish you are using, or twice that amount if you want to do an enclosed pie
Method: Stir-fry the lamb mince with the seasoning and the spices in a bit of olive oil (quantity depending on how fatty the mince is). Add the fruit while you're cooking the meat and mix thoroughly . Add one or two tablespoons of rosewater, depending on how moist the mixture already is. It should be moist but not watery. Put into the dish, shave off very thin shavings of butter and lay them on top of the mixture. This is to keep it from drying out while baking. Roll the pastry flat and lay over the pie-dish with a few holes poked on top. Bake in a 180C oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. If you want a pastry base you have to do the pre-bake thing with pastry beans to weigh down the bottom layer blah blah before adding the mincemeat mixture.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-20 05:05 pm (UTC)With all that rosewater it definitely doesn't need sugar, and it sounds positively redolent.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-21 12:49 pm (UTC)The recipe also works well with orangeflower water. The next time I make it I might try some of the Australian bush herbs that I picked up the last time that I was in Melbourne. Lemon myrtle and pepperberry would be interesting in the flavour mix.