| The Fresh Market in Rockville also has it. |
That's just "mince" |
| My family always got the mincemeat that came in a box as a dehydrate block (unless someone gave us the homemade kind with venison). Do they still make that? |
Me too |
| Rodmans will have it. Also check World Market. |
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Whole Foods. The supermarket stuff is NASTY.
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"Back" in the day it wasn't unusual to have sweet-savory blends of meat and fruit, which was actually common and a popular medieval/renaissance approach to food. We still do to an extent - recipes for pork with peaches/apricots are still used today.
Mincemeat, the original blend of chopped meat, suet and dried fruit aged in a nice amount of booze was a common way of using up bits of leftover meat and dried fruit in the winter months. As time went on, in the late 19th century into the 20th century, people started leaving out first the chopped meat but kept the suet, and now suet is usually no longer included, so it's strictly fruit. I've never been wild for the jarred mincemeat you find in the US. It wasn't until I started going to the UK in December that I discovered their mincemeat pies, which are always small individual mini-pies about two inches long rather than a large pie as found in the US, and I fell in love with it. British mincemeat filling is thicker and less juicy than the American jarred counterpart, so the pies don't break out into an oozy mess when you bite into it. I also find the higher crust to filling ratio you get with the smaller pies enhances the overall experience, a crumbly buttery crust with an intensely fruity filling works wonders together. If you don't have enough of the right crust, then the fruity mincemeat filling can be too strong. Mincemeat pies are hugely popular in the UK at this time of year and all newspapers will have annual competitions over which supermarket or bakery has the best mincemeat pies. But it is still an acquired taste if you didn't grow up with it, however, if you like raisins you should like them. As it is, my father loves the traditional American mincemeat pies so I always make one or two for him each Christmas. But I still smuggle over traditional English mincemeat pies and snack on them if my father doesn't find them first! |
No, that is minced meat. |
? Whole Foods is a supermarket too. |
Mince pies. They aren't called mincemeat pies in the U.K. They are called mince pies. |
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They're called mince pies in New England, too. I grew up loving them, and get a craving for one every few years. It's true they cry out for a sturdy, good crust to balance the intensity of the fruit and spices.
Around here, it's easy enough to get jarred English brands of the filling in many grocery stores. |
| Hagerstown, MD still has a tradition of mincemeat pies. It's a 1.5 hour drive from D.C. up Rt. 270 and west on Rt. 70, as if you were going to Whitetail Ski resort. believe there's a meat market that sells fresh made mincemeat, but not sure of the name. Google may help. The Amish market in Hagerstown, which is open Thursday-Saturday, was selling mincemeat pies a couple of weeks ago. You might be able to call the bakery over there to double check and maybe reserve a pie or two or get them to sell you a quantity of the mincemeat. They make the pies on the premises. There's an Amish Market in Gaithersburg or Germantown, too. You could check there with a phone call. My brother-in-law makes his own mincemeat. I am no mincemeat fan, but his is delicious. His is beefy, also with the dried fruit. He poaches the beef in whiskey. Of course it's delicious. |
So basically... it's an empanada? |
No, like a tart. You want less of the filling because it is intense. I love it but it also can be overwhelmingly sweet if the balance is off. |
| The English mincemeat we buy is actually quite tart, because it has vinegar to balance the sweetness of the apples and raisins and sugar. It's also spicy, in a clove/nutmeg etc kind of way. I have had some jarred brands that are sickeningly sweet. |