Editing Mince pie

{{Short description|Sweet pie with dried fruits and spices}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name            = Mince pie
| image           = File:Mince pies on a plate.jpg
| image_alt       = Six mince pies on a plate, sprinkled with sugar and with one broken open
| caption         = A plate of mince pies
| alternate_name  = 
| country         = England
| region          = 
| creator         = 
| course          = [[Dessert]]
| type            = [[Pie]]
| served          = 
| main_ingredient = [[Mincemeat]]
| variations      = 
| calories        = 
| other           = 
}}
A '''mince pie''' (also '''mincemeat pie''' in North America, and '''fruit mince pie''' in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet [[pie]] of [[English cuisine|English]] origin filled with [[mincemeat]], being a mixture of fruit, spices and [[suet]].{{efn|Traditionally beef suet, although many modern recipes use vegetable suet}} The pies are traditionally served during the [[Christmas and holiday season|Christmas season]] in much of the [[English-speaking world]]. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European [[crusaders]] brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits, and spices; these contained the [[Christian symbol|Christian symbolism]] of representing the gifts delivered to Jesus by the [[Biblical Magi]].<ref name="Crump2013"/> Mince pies, at Christmas time, were traditionally shaped in an oblong shape, to resemble a [[nativity scene|manger]] and were often topped with a depiction of the [[Christ Child]].<ref name="Crump2013">{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=The Christmas Encyclopedia, 3d ed. |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476605739 |page=120 |language=en |quote=It was fashionable at Christmastime to bake a mince pie in the form of a manger topped with an image of the Christ Child fashioned from dough, for the spices and sweetmeats were held as symbols of the Magi's gifts.}}</ref>

The early mince pie was known by several names, including "[[mutton]] pie", "shrid pie" and "Christmas pie". Typically, its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices, such as cinnamon, [[cloves]], and [[nutmeg]].  Served around Christmas, the savoury Christmas pie (as it became known) was associated with supposed Catholic "idolatry", and during the [[English Civil War]] was frowned on by the [[Puritan]] authorities.  Nevertheless, the tradition of eating Christmas pie in December continued through to the [[Victorian era]], although by then its recipe had become sweeter and its size markedly reduced from its once large oblong shape.  Today, the mince pie, usually made without meat (but often including suet or other animal fat), remains a popular seasonal treat enjoyed by many across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

==History==
===Britain===

The ingredients for the modern mince pie can be traced to the return of European [[Crusades|crusaders]] from the [[Holy Land]]. Middle Eastern methods of cooking, which sometimes combined meats, fruits and spices, were popular at the time.  Pies were created from such mixtures of sweet and savoury foods; in [[Tudor period|Tudor]] England, shrid pies (as they were known then) were formed from shredded meat, [[suet]] and dried fruit. The addition of spices such as [[cinnamon]], [[clove]]s and [[nutmeg]] was, according to the English [[antiquary]] [[John Timbs]], "in token of the offerings of the Eastern Magi."<ref name="Timbsp149">{{Harvnb|Timbs|1866|p=149}}</ref><ref name="Johnp78">{{Harvnb|John|2005|p=78}}</ref>  Several authors, including Timbs, viewed the pie as being derived from an old Roman custom practised during [[Saturnalia]], where Roman fathers in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] were presented with sweetmeats.<ref name="Timbsp149"/><!-- the "several authors" isn't specifically cited -->  Early pies were much larger than those consumed today,<ref name="Johnp78"/> and oblong shaped; the [[jurist]] [[John Selden]] presumed that "the coffin of our ''Christmas''-Pies, in shape long, is in Imitation of the Cratch [Jesus's crib]",<ref>{{Harvnb|Selden|1856|p=27}}</ref> although writer [[T. F. Thistleton-Dyer]] thought Selden's explanation unlikely, as "in old English cookery books the crust of a pie is generally called 'the coffin'."<ref>{{Harvnb|Dyer|2007|pp=458–459}}</ref>

[[File:William henry hunt christmas pie.jpg|left|thumb|upright|''Christmas Pie'', by [[William Henry Hunt (painter)|William Henry Hunt]]]]
The modern mince pie's precursor was known by several names.  The antiquary [[John Brand (antiquarian)|John Brand]] claimed that in [[Elizabethan]] and [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]]-era England they were known as minched pies,<ref name="Brandpp527528">{{Harvnb|Brand|1849|pp=527–528}}</ref> but other names include [[mutton]] pie, and starting in the following century, Christmas pie.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ayto|1990|pp=184–185}}</ref>  [[Gervase Markham]]'s 1615 recipe recommends taking "a leg of mutton", and cutting "the best of the flesh from the bone", before adding mutton suet, pepper, salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates and orange peel.  He also suggested that beef or [[veal]] might be used in place of mutton.<ref>{{Harvnb|Markham|Best|1994|p=104}}</ref>  In the north of England, [[goose]] was used in the pie's filling,<ref>{{Harvnb|Brand|1849|p=530}}</ref> but more generally [[beef tongue]] was also used; a North American filling recipe published in 1854 includes chopped neat's tongue, beef suet, [[raisin|bloom raisins]], currants, [[mace (spice)|mace]], cloves, nutmeg, [[brown sugar]], apples, lemons, brandy and orange peel.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1854|p=141}}</ref><ref name="Chambersp755">{{Harvnb|Chambers|1864|p=755}}</ref>  During the [[English Civil War]], along with the censure of other Catholic customs, they were banned: "Nay, the poor rosemary and bays, and ''Christmas pie'', is made an abomination."<ref>Quote taken from {{Citation | last = Lewis | first = Thomas | title = English Presbyterian eloquence | publisher = printed for T. Bickerton | year = 1720}}, and reproduced in {{Harvnb|Brand|1849|pp=527–528}}</ref>  [[Puritans]] were opposed to the Christmas pie, on account of its connection with Catholicism.<ref name="Timbsp149"/>  In his ''History of the Rebellion'', [[Marchamont Needham]] wrote "All Plums the Prophets Sons defy, And Spice-broths are too hot; Treason's in a ''December''-Pye, And Death within the Pot."<ref>{{Harvnb|N/A|1744|p=500}}</ref>  Some considered them unfit to occupy the plate of a clergyman, causing Philo-Clericus to comment:

{{quote| The Christmas-pie is, in its own nature, a kind of consecrated cake, and a badge of distinction; and yet it is often forbidden, the Druid of the family.  Strange that a sirloin of beef, whether boiled or roasted, when entire is exposed to the utmost depredeations and invasions; but if minced into small pieces, and tossed up with plumbs and sugar, it changes its property, and forsooth is meat for his master.<ref name="Chambersp755"/>}}
[[File:Mincemeat from Flickr user Stuart Caie.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Home-made [[mincemeat]]]]
In his essay ''The Life of Samuel Butler'', [[Samuel Johnson]] wrote of "an old Puritan, who was alive in my childhood&nbsp;... would have none of his superstitious meats and drinks."{{#tag:ref|The full quotation reads "We have never been witnesses of animosities excited by the use of mince-pies and plumb-porridge; nor seen with what abhorrence those who could eat them at all other times of the year would shrink from them in December.  An old Puritan, who was alive in my childhood, being, at one of the feasts of the church, invited by a neighbour to partake of his cheer, told him, that, if he would treat him at an alehouse with beer, brewed for all times and seasons, he should accept his kindness, but would have none of his superstitious meats and drinks."<ref>{{Harvnb|Butler|Johnson|1807|p=21}}</ref>|group="nb"}}  Another essay, published in the December 1733 issue of ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'', explained the popularity of "Christmas Pye" as perhaps "owing to the Barrenness of the Season, and the Scarcity of Fruit and Milk, to make Tarts, Custards, and other Desserts", but also possibly bearing "a religious kind of Relation to the Festivity from which it takes its Name."  The author also mentions the [[Quakers]]' objection to the treat, "who distinguish their Feasts by an heretical Sort of Pudding, known by their Names, and inveigh against Christmas Pye, as an Invention of the Scarlet Whore of ''Babylon'', an Hodge-Podge of Superstition, Popery, the Devil and all his Works."<ref>{{Citation | title = Grubstreet Journal, Dec. 27. No. 209. ''On Christmas Pye'' | url = http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ilej/image1.pl?item=page&seq=1&size=1&id=gm.1733.12.x.3.x.x.652 | pages = 652–653 | work = The Gentleman's Magazine | publisher = hosted at bodley.ox.ac.uk | date = December 1733 | access-date = 24 November 2010}}</ref>  Nevertheless, the Christmas pie remained a popular treat at Christmas, although smaller and sweeter, and lacking in post-Reformation England any sign of supposed Catholic idolatry.<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1992|pp=32–33}}</ref>  People began to prepare the fruit and spice filling months before it was required, storing it in jars, and as Britain entered the [[Victorian age]], the addition of meat had, for many, become an afterthought (although the use of suet remains).<ref>{{Harvnb|Stavely|Fitzgerald|2004|p=220}}</ref>  Its taste then was broadly similar to that experienced today, although some 20th-century writers continued to advocate the inclusion of meat.<ref>{{Citation | last = Hirst | first = Christopher | title = Sweet Delight: A Brief History of the Mince Pie | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/sweet-delight-a-brief-history-of-the-mince-pie-6270572.html | website = independent.co.uk | publisher = [[The Independent]] | date = 4 December 2011 | access-date = 7 December 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Mince pies December 2017.jpg|thumb|upright|A batch of modern-day home-made mince pies]]
Although the modern recipe is no longer the same list of 13&nbsp;ingredients once used (representative of Christ and his 12&nbsp;Apostles according to author Margaret Baker),<ref>{{Harvnb|Baker|1992|p=33}}</ref> the mince pie remains a popular Christmas treat.  Bakers [[Greggs]] reported sales of 7.5&nbsp;million mince pies during Christmas 2011.<ref>{{Citation | last = George | first = Colin | title = Booming Mince Pie and Coffee Sales Boost Greggs | url = http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/2012/01/11/booming-mince-pie-and-coffee-sales-boost-greggs-51140-30100616/ | publisher = nebusiness.co.uk | date = 11 January 2012 | access-date = 14 November 2012}}</ref>  The popular claim that the consumption of mince pies on Christmas Day is illegal is an [[urban myth]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Clare | first = Sean | title = Illegal Mince Pies and Other UK Legal Legends | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17610820 | website = bbc.co.uk | publisher = [[BBC]] | date = 6 April 2012 | access-date = 14 November 2012}}</ref>

===New England===
Mincemeat pie was brought to [[New England]] by English settlers in the 17th century.<ref name="PHM">{{cite web | url=http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/Thanksgiving_and_New_England_Pie.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222235152/http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/Thanksgiving_and_New_England_Pie.pdf |archive-date=2012-12-22 |url-status=live | title=Thanksgiving and the New England Pie | publisher=Pilgrim Hall Museum | date=November–December 2002 | access-date=3 December 2015 | author=Peggy M. Baker}}</ref> While it was originally a Christmas pie, as in Britain, the [[Puritans]] did not celebrate Christmas, causing the pie's associations in the region to shift toward the [[America]]n holiday of [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]]. The ingredients for New England mincemeat pie are similar to the British one, with a mixture of apples, raisins, spices, and minced beef serving as the filling.<ref name="PHM" /> Later recipes sometimes omit the beef, though "None Such" (now owned by [[The J.M. Smucker Company]]), the major brand of condensed American mincemeat, still contains beef. New England mincemeat pies are usually full-sized pies, as opposed to the individual-sized pies now common in Britain.

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Christmas pudding]]
* [[List of fruit dishes]]
* [[List of pies, tarts and flans]]
* [[Stir-up Sunday]]

==References==
'''Footnotes'''
{{Reflist|group="nb"}}

'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last = Ayto | first = John | title = The Glutton's Glossary: a Dictionary of Food and Drink Terms | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vAQOAAAAQAAJ | publisher = Routledge | year = 1990 | isbn = 0-415-02647-4}}
* {{Citation | last = Baker | first = Margaret | title = Discovering Christmas Customs and Folklore | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7fttUemH6ekC | publisher = Osprey Publishing | year = 1992 | isbn = 0-7478-0175-4 | edition = third}}
* {{Citation | last = Brand | first = John | author-link = John Brand (antiquarian) | title = Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ09AAAAYAAJ | publisher = Bohn | year = 1849| isbn = 9787270007267 }}
* {{Citation | last1 = Butler | first1 = Samuel | last2 = Johnson | first2 = Samuel | author-link = Samuel Johnson | title = Poetical Works: With the life of the author | volume = 1–2 | publisher = Printed for Cadwell and Davies, etc and Samuel Bagster | year = 1807}}
* {{Citation | last = Chambers | first = Robert | author-link = Robert Chambers (journalist) | title = The Book of Days | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VEcJAAAAIAAJ | publisher = W. & R. Chambers ltd | year = 1864}}
* {{Citation | last = Dyer | first = T. F. | author-link = T. F. Thistleton-Dyer | title = British Popular Customs – Present and Past – Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8XNFn1uBDWcC | publisher = Read Books | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-4067-7899-1}}
* {{Citation | last = John | first = J | title = A Christmas Compendium | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yBP8a2jJ9A4C | publisher = Continuum International Publishing Group | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-8264-8749-1}}
* {{Citation | last = Lee | first = N. K. M. | title = The Cook's Own Book, and Housekeeper's Register | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7_opAAAAYAAJ | publisher = C. S. Francis and Co. | year = 1854}}
* {{Citation | last1 = Markham | first1 = Gervase | author-link = Gervase Markham | last2 = Best | first2 = Michael R. | editor = Michael R. Best | title = The English Housewife | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ2KV5vfzqYC | publisher = McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-7735-1103-2}}
* {{Citation | last = N/A | title = The Harleian Miscellany | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vZVCAAAAYAAJ | publisher = Printed for T. Osborne | location = Gray's Inn, London | year = 1744}}
* {{Citation | last = Selden | first = John | author-link = John Selden | title = The Table-Talk of John Selden | url = https://archive.org/details/tabletalkofjohns00seldiala | publisher = J. R. Smith | location = London | year = 1856}}
* {{Citation | last1 = Stavely | first1 = Keith W. F. | last2 = Fitzgerald | first2 = Kathleen | title = America's founding food: the story of New England cooking | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xGzF54OaJE4C | publisher = UNC Press Books | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-8078-2894-7}}
* {{Citation | last = Timbs | first = John | author-link = John Timbs | title = Something for Everybody (and a Garland for the Year) | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qk0BAAAAQAAJ | publisher = Lockwood and Co. | location = London | year = 1866}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation | last1 = Brand | first1 = John | last2 = Ellis | first2 = Henry | title = Observations on popular antiquities: chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies, and supersititions | volume = 1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tZw9AAAAYAAJ | publisher = Charles Knight and Co. | year = 1841}}
* {{Citation | last = Hottes | first = Alfred Carl | title = 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies 1937 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9CXHQbGfsyQC | publisher = Kessinger Publishing | year = 2004 | isbn = 1-4179-7650-0}}
*{{Citation | last = Doerkson | first = Cliff | title = The Real American Pie | url = http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mince-pie-the-real-american-pie/Content?oid=1267308 | publisher = Chicago Reader | year = 2010}}
{{refend}}

{{Christmas}}
{{British pies}}
{{English cuisine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mince Pie}}
[[Category:Australian pies]]
[[Category:British desserts]]
[[Category:British pies]]
[[Category:New Zealand pies]]
[[Category:Christmas food]]
[[Category:English cuisine]]
[[Category:Fruit pies]]

[[he:Mincemeat#Mince pie]]