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Making Mince meat and Christmas cakes. (Mince pies are what Oliver Cromwell supposedly banned) Both are quite boozey but that isn't unusual for British food.

#Christmas
Amisja 8 Nov 25
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Level 8

I’ve always thought ‘mincemeat’ was just a cartoon threat 😉

Varn Level 8 Nov 25, 2018
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Do you not have it in the US ? It is very popular over here, it dose not contain any meat, it is a mixture of dried fruit and spice with sugar and a small amount of dried fat. Yum, I can smell it now.

@Fernapple In Old English "meat" simply meant edible food, as opposed to drink or the husks of fruit and cereals. It also applied to animal fodder. Around 200 years ago it started to change, until today it implies the flesh of mammals or reptiles, as opposed to fish, sea-food, insects or poultry.
Hence, mince meat can be completely vegetarian, although a spot of lard or dripping adds a "certain something" to the mix.
Have a read here:- [windowthroughtime.wordpress.com]

@Fernapple I’ve never knowingly eaten it.. but can’t say I’m salivating over here from it’s description 😉

@Petter Thank you that is interesting and I will follow the link.

@Petter, @Varn It is so good that I sometimes think mincepies are the best thing the UK ever invented. Apart from "Toad In The Hole" ( Does not contain toad.) "Season Pudding", ( No seasons included.) "Summer Puddding" (No Summer.) and Plum loaf, Which guess what , does not contain plums.
1

Level 9

I love both, but have not tried cooking the christmas cake myself yet, though the mince pies turned out OK. I think that I heard that the reason O. Cromwell tried to ban them was not because he did not like tasty food, but because there was a tradition of marking a cross, in other words, catholic idolatry, on the top.

It's also said that he wanted them banned because he was opposed to gluttony, or simply because as a Puritan he felt anything enjoyable had no part in any Christian festival. In actual fact, however, there never was any attempt to ban mince pies and the story is a myth - albeit a fun one.

@Jnei Absolutely

@Amisja Your mince looks delicious, by the way! Since I don't celebrate Christmas, I get my mince fix by using it to fill hamantaschen as Purim 🙂
1

Level 9

Now I definitely have to look you up on one of my holiday "jaunts" from Spain.

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