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meal, for some time refused to injure his morals by eating them when he might have done so. Misson, in the beginning of the last century, says they were made of neats' tongues, chicken, eggs, sugar, currants, lemon and orange peel, with various spices.
The modern receipts are similar, and the less meat they contain the better. The following is a well-tried and much approved one, and has been handed down in the same family for generations: " A pound of beef suet, chopped fine; a pound of raisins, do. stoned; a pound of currants, cleaned dry; a pound of apples, chopped fine; two or three eggs; allspice beat very fine, and sugar to your taste; a little salt, and as much brandy and wine as you like : " a small piece of citron in each pie is an improvement, and the cover or case should be oblong, in imitation of the crache or manger where our Saviour was laid, the ingredients themselves having been said to have some reference to the offering of the wise men.
James the First's dislike to the look of a naked sword took its rise from about the time of his birth; but Lord Feesimple, a cowardly character, in f Amends for Ladies,' one of Field's plays, attributes his lack of courage to an incident during that extensive chopping season, the necessary precursor of minced pies. '' I being in the kitchen, in my lord my father's house, the cook was making minc'd pies; so, sir, I standing by the dresser, there lay a heap of plums; here was he mincing; what did me ? I, sir, being a notable little witty coxcomb, but popp'd my hand just under his chopping-knife, to snatch some raisins, and so was cut o'er the hand; and never since could I endure the sight of any edge tool." There is a superstition that in as many different hoiifees as you eat minced pies during Christmas, so many happy months |
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