Perfect Mince Pies | Fruit Recipes | Jamie Oliver Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why should you stir mincemeat clockwise when making mince pies? ›

Traditions, folklore and superstitions

Stirring the mincemeat was quite an event, and English tradition dictates that it should only be stirred clockwise. Stirring the mincemeat anti-clockwise would lead to bad luck and poor fortune in the coming 12 months.

A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.

We prefer to bake, cool and freeze. Then defrost and warm as and when needed. However you can freeze them uncooked. Open-freeze the mince pies in their oven trays then knock them out and store them in polythene bags for up to 3 months.

It has been claimed that eating the snack is illegal in England if done so on Christmas Day. The tradition comes from the time of Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s, when mince pies were banned at Christmas, along with other tasty treats. Cromwell wanted to tackle gluttony in England.

Going on to how one should formally eat a mince pie, she explains: 'One would pick up the mince pie with a thumb and first finger, and lift [it] away from the plate. 'The mince pie is crumbly, so make sure anything that falls from the mince pie falls onto your plate.

The mince pie was originally filled with meat but it's believed that it wasn't until the late Victorian period and the early 20th century that mince pies shifted to a pie made from fruit fillings. Is it still illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas day?

Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg. Bake for 20 mins until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then remove to a wire rack. To serve, lightly dust with the icing sugar.

Better still, go with the traditional serve, where everyone eats their mince pies with the little foil cup perched under their chin (useful to catch any major pieces of debris, but not too prissy), and then put the Hoover round later.

While some believe that one mince pie each day for the twelve days of Christmas will be sufficient, there are other schools of thought that suggest eating as many as you can on Christmas Eve to cash in on the lucky streak.

Why are mince pies only sold at Christmas? ›

Why do we eat mince pies at Christmas? Mince pies were originally made to celebrate Jesus. They were oblong in shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby and have a 'pastry baby Jesus' carved into the pastry. Traditionally one mince pie is eaten for the Twelve days of Christmas.

These aren't Scotch Pies – where the mince should be very finely chopped and mixed with a bit of rusk or flour so that it forms a sort of tasty, hom*ogeneous meat blob when cooked – these other pies have the filling of what is called a “Mince Round”, a much wider, shallow pie, served in slices.

You should stir it Clockwise in order to bring good luck. Stirring it counter-clockwise brings bad luck for the following year.

Adding too much meat will reduce the temperature of the pan and the meat will not brown. It will release all of its liquid becoming tough, stewed and grey. Avoid over-stirring the mince as it fries. Allow the mince to develop a good brown colour before breaking it up and turning.

Fill each pie level with mincemeat, don't overfill as the pies have a tendency to leak and glue themselves to the tins if you do. Dip your finger in the egg and run around the edge of each mince pie and top with a lid, pressing gently together to seal.