Whistlers Mothers Mince Pies Recipe

How to make it

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• Pastry, modern version:
• Note: the prep time includes an hour in total of chilling time. I am estimating the time for making the pastry and filling and assembling the pies at about an hour.
• 6 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ cup lard
• ½ cup iced water
• 1½ cups butter, softened
• .
• Sift 4 cups of the flour and the salt into a bowl.
• Rub in the lard until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Make it into dough with the iced water.
• Put the dough onto a floured board and roll it out into a rectangular shape.
• Spread ½ cup of the butter over two-thirds of the surface.
• Scatter over that, one-third of the remaining flour.
• Fold the dough into three, give it a half-turn on the floured board, and roll it out again in the other direction.
• Fold it again.
• Wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for 20 minutes.
• Repeat the above steps twice more.
• After the last chilling, the pastry can be used straight away, or can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen.
• .
• Filling, and assembly of pies, modern version:
• 4 oz. chuck (shoulder) steak, minced
• 4 oz. fresh beef suet, grated, or ½ cup butter
• 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins, chopped
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup chopped candied peel
• ½ tsp. ground cloves
• ½ nutmeg, grated
• ½ tsp. ground allspice
• 1 orange rind, grated
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsps. brandy
• 2 tbsps. sweet white wine
• 2 tbsps. sweet cider
• 1 quantity ‘paste’ (pastry) made as above
• Beaten egg to glaze
• .
• Preheat the oven to 425F/220C/Gas Mark 7.
• Put the minced beef, grated suet, chopped apple and raisins, currants, chopped candied peel, ground cloves, grated nutmeg, ground allspice and grated orange rind into a bowl. (If you are using butter instead of suet, melt it and add it at this stage.)
• Mix well together.
• Add the lemon juice, brandy, wine and cider, and mix in well.
• Roll out the pastry and stamp out 72 rounds with a 3-inch cutter.
• Use them to line tartlet tins.
• Put a small spoonful of mincemeat in each one and cover it with a 2 ½ inch round.
• Glaze with beaten egg, and prick each top with a fork.
• Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot.