If you can imagine such a thing, some people honestly and truly actually like traditional fruitcake. And mincemeat, too.
The year Wayne’s beloved Aunt Genevieve had the whole family over to her little place at Paterson for Thanksgiving, she not only started us off with wine jelly for breakfast, but a hefty slab of mincemeat pie at every place. At every meal. I had never cared for mincemeat anything at that point, and let me tell you, I really haven’t liked the stuff since then, either.
But lots of folks do, and think it just wouldn’t be Christmas without mincemeat something or other. So here’s a special – and interesting – recipe that comes to us courtesy of Stanwood cook Sharron Kadzewick.
She tells us, “When we discovered a box of family photos, we also found a piece of cooking history for making your own mincemeat. I thought perhaps some readers would enjoy it. This is from the Feb. 7, 1931, issue of the World Herald in Omaha, Neb.
“One of my grandmother’s friends sent this recipe to her because my grandparents Bert and Winnie Honeycutt moved their family from Ord, Neb., to Lake Stevens in approximately 1926, where they settled for the rest of their lives. I hope your readers enjoy this bit of trivia.”
Please note that the following recipe, as contributed by Mrs. George J. Little of Schuyler, Neb., appears exactly as it was printed in the World Herald. However, it no longer considered safe to simply seal this mixture in jars and store them for future use. Therefore, we have added a note to the recipe.
Then, for those of us who are kind of taken with the idea of fruitcake, but absolutely loathe and despise it, even cringe at the thought of having to eat some somewhere just to be polite, here’s a great – and definitely edible – departure from the norm. I retrieved it from a Dec. 1, 2000 Forum column, which itself was a reprint of a December 1981 Forum, wherein Everett cook Violet Cerny shared the how-to, telling us it had originally been contributed by Sue Duvall of Oak Harbor, who mentioned it was actually her grandmother’s recipe.
“She has made it every Thanksgiving or Christmas that I can remember,” she said, “and now I make it for my family. It’s more like a candy than a cake and very irresistible.”
Now we’re talking! So here we go with one traditional and one nontraditional concoction:
Mince meat
3pounds of lean beef
1 1/2pounds of beef suet
5pounds of apples
21/4pounds of brown sugar
2pounds of raisins (seeded or seedless)
1/2pound of citron
1/2pound each candied orange and lemon peel
1quart cider
1quart of fruit juice or watermelon sweet pickle sirup’”
1teaspoon nutmeg
2tablespoons cinnamon
1tablespoon each cloves, allspice and salt
Boil beef until very tender the day before and let cool in liquor or broth.
Put beef, suet, candied orange and lemon peel through food chopper. Cut citron fine, pare, core and chop apples fine. Wash raisins thoroughly. Put all in a large dish pan and add brown sugar, cider, fruit juice, salt and spices. Cook for 10 or 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching. Fill quart or pint jars and seal while hot. See note. This is extra good.
Note: It is no longer considered safe to simply seal this mixture in jars and store for future use. Instead, ladle mincemeat into suitable containers, cool, cover and freeze.
Uncooked fruit cake
1pound graham crackers
1large box seedless raisins
1package pitted dates, chopped
4cups walnuts or pecans, chopped
2large (or 4 small) jars maraschino cherries
1pound marshmallows
1small can evaporated milk
Crush crackers; add raisins and dates. Add nuts and cherries. Mix thoroughly with hands. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt marshmallows with milk. Pour marshmallow mixture over nuts and fruit and mix thoroughly. Pack in buttered pans and allow to cool on counter. Store in covered pans in refrigerator. To serve, cut in small pieces.
The next Forum will appear in the Wednesday Food section.
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