I remember when I was a small child Thanksgiving at my Grandmother's in Maine. My gram and Gramps were very poor and pretty much all of what they ate came from the forest or their own garden. Gram 'put up' vegetables, and stored produce such as apples and potatoes in a root cellar. Gramp's hunted for deer, rabbit and did a good bit of fishing! Thanksgiving was full of good healthy food. Real home churned butter sat on your potatoes, greens of all sorts from fiddle heads to dandelions added to the richness of this meal. It's sad that as rich as we now are our food today doesn't taste at all the same! This was real food.
Grandma Myers' Homemade Mincemeat Recipe
[not my Gram but this is the real deal recipe!]Recipe Type:
Mincemeat, Wild Game, Beef, Apples
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 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. Preparation:
What are your best memories of Thanksgiving with the Grandparents? 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; reserve 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.
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