Wild Game Mincemeat Pie Recipe
By angelamontana

Posted: September 12, 2013

I remember going to grandparents’ house about 30 years ago, and my grandpa would always be eating pie.  I have never been into sweets too much, so pie was not something I ever craved, but HIS pie was always interesting to me.  As a four year-old, I had never tried mincemeat pie, but the word meat always threw me off, as being combined with the word “pie” just confused me.

Needless to say, I was a curious child, and I ended up trying some of the “big pot pie” and was pleasantly surprised with what I tasted.  It has been a good 25 years since I’ve had mincemeat pie, and I recently came across this recipe that I plan on cooking with the elk meat that will hopefully be filling our freezer by the end of the season.  I wonder if food brings back memories like music can.  I will find out!

If you try the recipe, let us know what you think!

Grandma Myers’ Homemade Mincemeat Recipe

Yields: serves many – Prep time: 60 min  – Bake time: 2 hr

Ingredients:

  • 4 pounds venison, elk, or beef
  • Water
  • 2 1/2 cups suet, finely chopped or grated*
  • 7 1/2 cups chopped tart apples
  • 3 cups liquid (liquid from meat of your choice it was cooked in)
  • 5 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 cups apple cider
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 3 cups raisins
  • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon ground cloves
  • 2 tablespoons ground allspice
  • 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • Juice of 2 oranges
  • 1 cup brandy or sherry

*Suet is firm beef fat. You need to ask your butcher for this.

Mincemeat2Preparation:

Trim fat from meat of your choice.

In a large heavy pan over medium heat, place meat; cover with water and simmer until the meat is tender. Remove from heat and refrigerate meat in the cooking liquid overnight.

Remove from refrigerator and remove meat from liquid. Remove all fat from top of liquid; discard the fat and reserve the remaining liquid. Separate meat from bones, discard bones. Chop cooked meat into small cubes.

In a large pot, combine meat cubes, suet, apples, reserved liquid, sugar, apple cider, molasses, cider vinegar, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, lemon juice, and orange juice; simmer for 2 hours. remove from heat. Add brandy or sherry and mix together.

Refrigerate or pack in hot sterile jars and seal. May also be stored in the freezer.

Once you have your mincemeat prepared, use the following recipe to bake your mincemeat pie:

 

Old-Fashioned Mincemeat Pie

What you will need:

  • Pastry for 9-inch two crust pie*
  • 1 quart prepared mincemeat (recipe above)
  • Brandy to taste

** 1 (28-ounce) jar prepared mincemeat pie filling may be substituted, but the recipe above is supposed to be the best

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(mynorth.com)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare pie pastry.

Spoon prepared mincemeat into pastry-lined plate. Add additional brandy to your taste. Cover with remaining pastry and flute. Cut slits in pastry so steam can escape. Cover edge with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.

Bake pie 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Remove aluminum foil during last 15 minutes of baking. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

(Recipes via whatscookingamerica.net; Cover photo: kathdedon.wordpress.com)

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