The Queen's pastry chef reveals her secret mince pie recipe (2024)

FAQs

The Queen's pastry chef reveals her secret mince pie recipe? ›

The reason mincemeat is called meat is because that's exactly what it used to be: most often mutton, but also beef, rabbit, pork or game. Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid.

The reason mincemeat is called meat is because that's exactly what it used to be: most often mutton, but also beef, rabbit, pork or game. Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid.

Many believe the idea for the mince pie originated with Middle Eastern cuisine in the 12th century, when spices and fruit were often used in savory and sweet meat dishes. Before refrigeration, spices and sugars were used for preservation to slow down spoilage.

For Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953, the city of Gloucester, England, created an epic lamprey pie: a 42-pound, 18-inch-high pastry masterpiece decorated with the Royal Coat of Arms and crown. The gift revived a medieval tradition, a time when lampreys were plentiful.

Mix apples, diced beef, raisins, sugar, beef broth, orange sections, sorghum, pickle juice, pineapple juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt together in a large bowl until well combined. Store filling in the refrigerator or freeze until ready to use.

A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.

By the 18th century it was more likely to be tongue or even tripe, and in the 19th century it was minced beef. It was not until the late Victorian period and early 20th Century that mince pies dropped the meat and had all fruit fillings (albeit with suet). Even today there are traditions associated with mince pies.

Mince pies were always a festive pie and eaten around Christmas time. Other names for mince pies include 'mutton pie', 'shrid pie' and 'Christmas pie. ' What has changed dramatically is the mince pie recipe, having begun as savoury pies filled with minced meat, suet, dried fruits, spices cloves and nutmeg.

They became a popular treat around the festive period thanks to a tradition from the middle ages, which saw people eat a mince pie for 12 days from Christmas day to Twelfth Night. Doing this was believed to bring you happiness for the next 12 months.

“The name Crack Pie falls short of this mission,” she wrote. She decided on the name Milk Bar Pie because “it's been on the Milk Bar menu since day one” and that “the old name was getting in the way of letting the gooey, buttery slice bring happiness— my only goal in creating the thing in the first place.”

What is the oldest pie in the world? ›

The Ancient Egyptians created the first example of what we know as pies today. Later on, closer to the 5th Century BC, the Ancient Greeks were believed to invent pie pastry as it is mentioned in the plays of the writer Aristophanes and it was possible to work as a pastry chef in this era, a separate trade to a baker.

The Guinness world record for the most expensive pie cost customers to the Fence Gate Inn, Lancashire, UK £8,195 (then $14,260) or £1,024 (then $1,781) per slice when ordered by eight guests on 14 November 2005.

Mincemeat isn't difficult to make, but it has a lot of ingredients, which can make it expensive to produce in small batches, and it requires at least a day's advance planning to let the ingredients sit.

Mince pies are best served gently warmed. They can be eaten with your hands or with a spoon if served with cream or even ice cream if you like. Store in in the fridge in an airtight container.

Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since at least the 16th century. Then they were made of a spiced, sweet minced meat mixture (often lamb), but they are now commonly made with sweet mincemeat, a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices, and brandy.

Ingredients included dried fruits like raisins prunes and figs, lamb or mutton (representing the shepherds) and spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg (for the Wise Men). By late Victorian England, mince pies ceased to contain meat and had all fruit fillings (with suet).

It was a way to have dessert on Christmas without having a traditional dessert. Originally mincemeat simply meant, “minced meat,” but the meaning changed around the 16^th century. In the Middle Ages up until the mid-19^th century, they were called Christmas, shred, or minced pyes.

What is the difference between mince and mincemeat? Mince is ground or finely chopped meat. Mincemeat, if referring to the mincemeat in pies, is a mixture of finely chopped dried fruit, nuts, sugar, spices and alcohol, sometimes containing minced meat, sometimes not.