Why do they call it mince meat pie if there is no meat in it?

Question

and what the heck is it? sounds nasty!

Answer 1

Back in the old, OLD days, mincemeat really did have meat in it.

Forcemeat, meat ground up fine and forced through a seive was mixed with dried fruit and spices, and was created as an alternative to smoking or drying for preservation, a variant form of sausage.

Usually included in the mincemeat pies was suet. The dry, hard white beef fat we put out for the birds in winter. This was to add some tenderness, calories and grease to the pie.

Nummy!

Don't forget, this was from the time when "4 and 20 Blackbirds, baked in a pie", was real cooking instructions, and not just a children's nursery rhyme!

(For this one, the cleaned, and plucked headless blackbirds are arranged in a circle on their backs on a pie crust with onions, gravy, herbs and spices, with their legs bunched together and sticking up through a hole in the top crust. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Serve to your brave, hopefully totally drunk friends.)

Answer 2

I think you are talking about christmas mince pies also called sweet mince pies I suppose they are so called as the mixture looks similar to real mince meat.

Answer 3

I think there used to be meat in it. There is suet. I think it was a way of using up spoiled meat by adding strong spices and putting it into a pie.

Answer 4

some recipes have meat, and all of them used to when the pie was first created

Answer 5

It used to contain meat

Answer 6

There is actually meat in it, and a whole bunch of other crap like raisins and stuff.

Answer 7

Why is hamburger called that when there is no ham? It is part of vocabulary. The middle of a nut is called nutmeats.

Answer 8

Its a favourite of mine. Dates, raiins, currants and soake in Rum which gives it its flavour.

Answer 9

I found a recipe for it that does have meat in it here: http://www.ehow.com/how_7000_make-mincemeat-pie.html