What do you really know about mince pies?

[Kari Anson]

In the hustle and bustle of a very commercialised xmas - I wonder how many people spare a thought for the true meaning of xmas. Here's my contribution (and there's plenty more where this came from - learned as a mother trying to express xmas in a non-comercialised way to her children).

Did you know - Mince pies were originially made to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. The pasty cradle was made to represent his crib and in the olden days they contained three spices which were to represent the three gifts from the wise men, gold, frankinsence (if that's how you spell it) and myr??? Yikes, I know how to pronounce them but that's the first time I've ever had to attempt to write them! So as you eat all the pies - just think why they were orginally made.

 

[Okiedokie of Oz]

wow...the crib's the best part!!!

 

[Seedhouse]

All I know about them is that I don't like them :lol: :lol:

 

[Straightmute]

All I know about them is that I don't like them :lol: :lol:

I'll have yours. Please keep them on one side and I'll pop round on boxing day.

 

[Seedhouse]

Lol, ok! :lol:

 

[Roger Thorne]

Here's an interesting little clippet on the subject!

A. Suzanne, the French historian of English cookery, said of the mince pie, “This little pie is especially esteemed and popular in England. This, with the legendary plum pudding, presides as a master at the gargantuan love-feast of Christmas. Its absence from a Christmas dinner would be looked upon as a breach of the traditional rules and customs.”

Centuries ago, pies, tarts, and tartlets were all characterized by having a filling in a pastry crust or “coffin.” A small pie was known as a tartlet and a tart was a large, shallow open pie (this is still the definition in England). Mince pies have changed in shape and content over the years. Three centuries ago, a mince pie was a huge dish called “Christmas pye” and described as “a most learned mixture of Neats-tongues (ox tongue), chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, lemon and orange peel, various kinds of spicery, etc.” Over the years, the pies grew smaller, and the meat content was gradually reduced until the pies were simply filled with a mixture of suet, spices and dried fruit, previously steeped in brandy. This filling was put into little pastry cases that were covered with pastry lids and then baked in an oven. Essentially, this is today’s English mince pie.

When mincemeat is made in the English kitchen, all the family takes turns in stirring and making a secret wish. The mixture is always stirred clockwise, the direction in which the sun is assumed to proceed around an earth at the center of the universe. To stir in a counter-clockwise direction is to ask for trouble in the coming year!

Fact file:
The largest Mince Pie weighed 2,260 pounds (1.02 tonnes) and measured 6.1m X 1.5m. It was baked in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire on 15 October 1932.

:wink:

 

[lynchie]

so that's why there's no meat in mincemeat!

 

[Dave Payn]

All I know about them is that I don't like them :lol: :lol:

I'll have yours. Please keep them on one side and I'll pop round on boxing day.

I'll have any that SM doesn't have. Would you be so kind as to not like turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing (careful.....), gravy and Christmas pudding as well please.

Ta.

 

[Brian Bowen]

An English man has just set up business here in Sarasota making and selling English pasties, sausage rolls, and mince pies. The latter were the wrong shape, looking like a sausage roll in flaky pastry, but he went to the trouble of personally bringing the actual mince all the way from England (apparently the Americans don't make it properly) and they sure were tasty.

 

[Dave Payn]

'What do you know about mince pies?'

Cockney rhyming slang for 'eyes'!

 

[PeterBale]

'What do you know about mince pies?'

Cockney rhyming slang for 'eyes'!

Maybe they should be in the butchers after all :wink:

 

[BigHorn]

Its what Julian Clary and Will young do.
Mince by :wink:

 

[EIBB_Ray]

When mincemeat is made in the English kitchen

As I tried to rapidly read down this thread, my rather un-trustworthy eyes saw this and thought it said "When mincemeat is made of English Kittens."

Made myself chuckle.

 

[Dave Payn]

When mincemeat is made in the English kitchen

As I tried to rapidly read down this thread, my rather un-trustworthy eyes saw this and thought it said "When mincemeat is made of English Kittens."

Made myself chuckle.

Well it would certainly provide a lifeline!

 

[bigmamabadger]

According to some theological historians Jesus wasn't even born in December, he was born in October...
When Christian missionaries came north from Italy they decided the Pagan midwinter festival of Yule was a convenient handle to hang the Big Celebration on.
It is also said that Christmas as we know it now was mainly imported from Germany by Prince Albert in 19th century.
So basically Xmas is a big fat sham and we should make the most of eating too much, drinking too much and hoping the sun comes back again if we sacrifice and idiot and/or a virgin. Or eat beans.

Bah Everton Mints
BMB
xx

 

[Brian Bowen]

When mincemeat is made in the English kitchen

As I tried to rapidly read down this thread, my rather un-trustworthy eyes saw this and thought it said "When mincemeat is made of English Kittens."

Made myself chuckle.

Well it would certainly provide a lifeline!

It's looks as though Dave Payn has found corn in his mincemeat.

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

According to some theological historians Jesus wasn't even born in December, he was born in October...

well, yes, although i have heard this... no1 actually knows when Jesus was born exactly...


Christmas stands for Christ's Mass...


As for mince pies...


YUMMY!!!

;-)

 

[VenusTromster]

All I know is that there are been people handing out mince pies at my uni all day. Not too sure if I want to eat them or not..... might test them on someone else first! :twisted:

 

[MoominDave]

so that's why there's no meat in mincemeat!

Not quite. In the late middle ages, "meat" used to mean any sort of food, not just flesh. "Mincemeat" was simply minced fruit, as I understand it.

Dave

 

[Okiedokie of Oz]

According to some theological historians Jesus wasn't even born in December, he was born in October...
When Christian missionaries came north from Italy they decided the Pagan midwinter festival of Yule was a convenient handle to hang the Big Celebration on.
It is also said that Christmas as we know it now was mainly imported from Germany by Prince Albert in 19th century.
So basically Xmas is a big fat sham and we should make the most of eating too much, drinking too much and hoping the sun comes back again if we sacrifice and idiot and/or a virgin. Or eat beans.

Bah Everton Mints
BMB
xx

According to a radio article I heard a few years back, scientists analysing ancient Chinese astronomy charts, believed they found the astrological event that caused the star to guide everyone to Bethlehem. Our current calendar is something like 14 years out, if we are to use their records as a bisis of finding the BC/AD time break