Lo these many years ago, a UK-born boss of mine attempted to wheedle me into swifter production by offering me a small mincemeat pie if I finished a pressing task by 4 p.m. I begged to be allowed to take only half if I knocked it out by 3, and remain fully un-minced if I had everything squared away by 2.
In theory, I should love traditional mincemeat. I'm a huge fan of a meat 'n sweet one-two punch -- especially when there's cookin' booze involved -- but I've never been able to wrap my head around the flavor of suet. It's the hard fat from around the loins and kidneys of sheep and cows, isn't especially full and meaty like lard, and is possessed of a particularly high melting point, making it the perfect base fat for many classic British steamed puddings. It seems to be the definitive flavoring agent in all the mincemeat I've had, but I've not been able to convince myself to care for it. I tend to be a stickler when it comes to ingredient lists for traditional dishes from my vintage cookbooks, but I'm wondering if there's a fat I can sub in that would render a texture that would cleave closely to the original. Most suet-centric recipes I've come across warn that the use of butter, margarine, lard, shortening et al leaves the whole dish overly greasy and flat, but if any of y'all have met with a successful swap, I'm all ears. There may even be a bit of Spotted Dick in it for you.
Other Cooking and Traveling the Cape Cod Way highlights include Forefather's Day Succotash (look for that recipe on December 21st), Beach Plum Jelly, Irish Moss Pudding, Scootin'-Long-The-Shore, Skully Joe and a wicked lot of mouthwatering Portuguese cookery. I'm more than happy to share if there's any interest.
12-07-2008 @2:18PM Dr. Electro said... I like traditional mince pies. I like steak and kidney even better, especially if it's Guinness steak pie. With mashed potatoes of course.
The suet that snarls my traffic is mutton or lamb suet. The taste is altogether too much for me.
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12-07-2008 @4:36PM Kat Kinsman said... Dr. Electro -- funny you should say that. I was just flipping through the new Jamie Oliver cookbook and drooling over the Steak & Guinness Pie recipe (and have now decided to make it tonight). He's suggesting the use of store-bought puff pastry. Is the suet in the pie usually factor into the pastry or the filling?
What sort of dishes are you running into with the mutton suet?
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12-08-2008 @4:20AM lisa said... I'm trying to substitute coconut butter this year - certainly appears to have worked for the mincemeat; my pudding has yet to steam.
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12-08-2008 @5:04PM Kat Kinsman said... Please apprise us when the pudding steams. I'd love to know how it goes.
If anyone care, the Steak & Guinness Pie was slap-yo-member-of-Parliament good, and suet-free.
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12-20-2008 @9:20PM Barb said... Suet is difficult to find so I'm looking for a substitute also. Let me know what works. It is for an old family recipe of Christmas suet pudding that has raisins and currants in it and is served with a brandy sauce.
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