 A plate of mince pies | |
| Type | Pie |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | England |
| Main ingredients | Mincemeat |
Amince pie (alsomincemeat pie in North America, andfruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweetpie ofEnglish origin filled withmincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices andsuet.[a] The pies are traditionally served during theChristmas season in much of theEnglish-speaking world. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning Europeancrusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits, and spices; these contained theChristian symbolism of representing the gifts delivered to Jesus by theBiblical Magi.[1] Mince pies, at Christmas time, were traditionally shaped in an oblong shape, to resemble amanger and were often topped with a depiction of theChrist Child.[1]
The early mince pie was known by several names, including "mutton pie", "shrid pie" and "Christmas pie". Typically, its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices, such as cinnamon,cloves, andnutmeg. Served around Christmas, the savoury Christmas pie (as it became known) was associated with supposed Catholic "idolatry", and during theEnglish Civil War was frowned on by thePuritan authorities. Nevertheless, the tradition of eating Christmas pie in December continued through to theVictorian era, although by then its recipe had become sweeter and its size markedly reduced from its once large oblong shape. Today, the mince pie, usually made without meat (but often including suet or other animal fat), remains a popular seasonal treat enjoyed by many across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The ingredients for the modern mince pie can be traced to the return of Europeancrusaders from theHoly Land. Middle Eastern methods of cooking, which sometimes combined meats, fruits and spices, were popular at the time. Pies were created from such mixtures of sweet and savoury foods; inTudor England, shrid pies (as they were known then) were formed from shredded meat,suet and dried fruit. The addition of spices such ascinnamon,cloves andnutmeg was, according to the EnglishantiquaryJohn Timbs, "in token of the offerings of the Eastern Magi."[2][3] Several authors, including Timbs, viewed the pie as being derived from an old Roman custom practised duringSaturnalia, where Roman fathers in theVatican were presented with sweetmeats.[2] Early pies were much larger than those consumed today,[3] and oblong shaped; thejuristJohn Selden presumed that "the coffin of ourChristmas-Pies, in shape long, is in Imitation of the Cratch [Jesus's crib]",[4] although writerT. F. Thistleton-Dyer thought Selden's explanation unlikely, as "in old English cookery books the crust of a pie is generally called 'the coffin'."[5]
The modern mince pie's precursor was known by several names. The antiquaryJohn Brand claimed that inElizabethan andJacobean-era England they were known as minched pies,[6] but other names includemutton pie, and starting in the following century, Christmas pie.[7]Gervase Markham's 1615 recipe recommends taking "a leg of mutton", and cutting "the best of the flesh from the bone", before adding mutton suet, pepper, salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates and orange peel. He also suggested that beef orveal might be used in place of mutton.[8] In the north of England,goose was used in the pie's filling,[9] but more generallybeef tongue was also used; a North American filling recipe published in 1854 includes chopped neat's tongue, beef suet,bloom raisins, currants,mace, cloves, nutmeg,brown sugar, apples, lemons, brandy and orange peel.[10][11] During theEnglish Civil War, along with the censure of other Catholic customs, they were banned: "Nay, the poor rosemary and bays, andChristmas pie, is made an abomination."[12]Puritans were opposed to the Christmas pie, on account of its connection with Catholicism.[2] In hisHistory of the Rebellion,Marchamont Needham wrote "All Plums the Prophets Sons defy, And Spice-broths are too hot; Treason's in aDecember-Pye, And Death within the Pot."[13] Some considered them unfit to occupy the plate of a clergyman, causing Philo-Clericus to comment:
The Christmas-pie is, in its own nature, a kind of consecrated cake, and a badge of distinction; and yet it is often forbidden, the Druid of the family. Strange that a sirloin of beef, whether boiled or roasted, when entire is exposed to the utmost depredeations and invasions; but if minced into small pieces, and tossed up with plumbs and sugar, it changes its property, and forsooth is meat for his master.[11]
In his essayThe Life of Samuel Butler,Samuel Johnson wrote of "an old Puritan, who was alive in my childhood ... would have none of his superstitious meats and drinks."[nb 1] Another essay, published in the December 1733 issue ofThe Gentleman's Magazine, explained the popularity of "Christmas Pye" as perhaps "owing to the Barrenness of the Season, and the Scarcity of Fruit and Milk, to make Tarts, Custards, and other Desserts", but also possibly bearing "a religious kind of Relation to the Festivity from which it takes its Name." The author also mentions theQuakers' objection to the treat, "who distinguish their Feasts by an heretical Sort of Pudding, known by their Names, and inveigh against Christmas Pye, as an Invention of the Scarlet Whore ofBabylon, an Hodge-Podge of Superstition, Popery, the Devil and all his Works."[15] Nevertheless, the Christmas pie remained a popular treat at Christmas, although smaller and sweeter, and lacking in post-Reformation England any sign of supposed Catholic idolatry.[16] People began to prepare the fruit and spice filling months before it was required, storing it in jars, and as Britain entered theVictorian age, the addition of meat had, for many, become an afterthought (although the use of suet remains).[17] Its taste then was broadly similar to that experienced today, although some 20th-century writers continued to advocate the inclusion of meat.[18]
Although the modern recipe is no longer the same list of 13 ingredients once used (representative of Christ and his 12 Apostles according to author Margaret Baker),[19] the mince pie remains a popular Christmas treat. BakersGreggs reported sales of 7.5 million mince pies during Christmas 2011.[20] The popular claim that the consumption of mince pies on Christmas Day is illegal is anurban myth.[21]
Mincemeat pie was brought toNew England by English settlers in the 17th century.[22] While it was originally a Christmas pie, as in Britain, thePuritans did not celebrate Christmas, causing the pie's associations in the region to shift toward theAmerican holiday ofThanksgiving. The ingredients for New England mincemeat pie are similar to the British one, with a mixture of apples, raisins, spices, and minced beef serving as the filling.[22] Later recipes sometimes omit the beef, though "None Such" (now owned byThe J.M. Smucker Company), the major brand of condensed American mincemeat, still contains beef. New England mincemeat pies are usually full-sized pies, as opposed to the individual-sized pies now common in Britain.
Footnotes
Notes
It was fashionable at Christmastime to bake a mince pie in the form of a manger topped with an image of the Christ Child fashioned from dough, for the spices and sweetmeats were held as symbols of the Magi's gifts.
| Sweet | |
|---|---|
| Savoury |
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