primitives discuss mincemeat

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115735761

Oh my.

grasswire (38,644 posts)   Thu Dec 12, 2013, 09:56 PM

Has mincemeat disappeared?

My elderly aunties were expressing fond memories of mince pie the other day. The server in the dining room of their care center is twenty-something. She had never heard of mincemeat pie. She shudd.ered.
 
Just out of curiosity, I looked for mincemeat when at Kroger today. Nothing. No mincemeat in the baking aisle, or in the place where holiday specialties are displayed.
 
Is it gone from common memory?

"aunties" -- talk about a lack of respect for the ancient, describing them in baby-talk.

However, I'm sure that behind her back, while discussing the most opportune time to shove addled great-great-grandma Judy into a home, many refer to the pie-and-jam primitive in infantile terms, too.

polly7 (9,182 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 09:59 PM

1. Here, it's easy to find.

My favourite pie ever!

But I do know that at family meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas, a lot of the younger kids don't eat much of it.

NRaleighLiberal (32,392 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:00 PM

2. Acquired taste? I think I've seen it here and there....but the original recipe listed in the old Joy of Cooking (which used lard and minced meat!) has been de-meated...seems these days it is all about using fruit (mostly candied).
 
Not my thing, I think - then again, I've never partaken!

In the same category of Christmas Plum Pudding? A dessert whose time is not now!
 
(we aim for chocolate things in our house for Christmas dessert!)

Tien1985 (735 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:00 PM

3. I'm 27

And although when I was little we used to talk about smashing something into mincemeat, I've never actually seen any. I'd have to google it to really know what it was (I'm being lazy at the moment). I assume it's actually what it sounds like, meat all minced into itty bitty pieces or possibly some kind of meat slurry.

grasswire (38,644 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:16 PM

5. used to be made with meat then with suet.

Now mostly with no meat or suet. Bits of raisins, candied fruits, apples, lots of spices, some booze. Very fragrant.

Tien1985 (735 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:48 PM

8. The suet kind would

Be gross, but I'd try the other kinds. Although I don't like candied fruits most of the time, I'd be willing to try just to see how it was.

Staph (2,475 posts)   Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:01 PM

4. My brother-in-law made mince pie for Thanksgiving.

He found the mince meat at the local Kroger's, which has a large international section.

grasswire (38,644 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:17 PM

6. oh maybe it's in the English food area

But it used to be standard. I can see the label on the jar in my mind.

MyNameGoesHere (3,710 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 11:15 PM

9. I am surprised a fellow hill person (I avoided the other word) doesn't know how to make mince meat pies. I thank my grandma for passing it on to me. Of course hers consisted of game taken during hunting by grandpa and me, but darn it was something really good and comforting. I know the hunting of game is not acceptable now days but for them, and luckily me it was a way of sustenance.

grasswire (38,644 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:22 PM

7. oh the traditional brand is "None Such"

http://www.nonesuchrecipes.com/purchase.asp

dem in texas (489 posts)    Fri Dec 13, 2013, 01:42 AM

10. Nonesuch in Jars and Condensed

Yes, there are people in the world who still like mincemeat pie. I always make on at Christmas. The condensed mincemeat is dry and is great for making cookies,just crumble it up. I have a box of it and will add to oatmeal crispies which I will be making tomorrow.

[Carl]

I have never had it with actual meat in it,just things like raisins etc.
It is good if not runny.

I found this amusing.

grasswire (38,644 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:17 PM

6. oh maybe it's in the English food area

But it used to be standard. I can see the label on the jar in my mind.

From what I know about "English" food I would say that area would be the big green container in the back alley.

[Chris_]

From what I know about "English" food I would say that area would be the big green container in the back alley.

Publix has an import section with English products.  It's a lot of the same companies that sell stuff in the US... Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Heinz.

[franksolich]

From what I know about "English" food I would say that area would be the big green container in the back alley.

I got nothing against English cuisine--the eggs, potatoes, bacon, toast, and tea served in cheap bed-and-breakfasts suited me just fine, excepting when the orange marmalade in a little dish was covered with mold--but maybe some here had missed that one quirk of addled Judy's.

To the grasswire primitive, all foreign foods and habits are superior to American foods and habits.

For example, years ago, she said she shops for groceries every day (rather than once a week) because "it's European."

So I can very easily see the pie-and-jam primitive spending much of her time in an "international section" of a grocery store, ignoring the other 90-95% of the goods.

She's just a silly old fool.

[Skul]

What a pack of pretentious twits.
Make a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, and everybody would eat it.

Beer, don't forget the freaking beer.

[BattleHymn]

grasswire (38,644 posts)    Thu Dec 12, 2013, 10:17 PM

6. oh maybe it's in the English food area

But it used to be standard. I can see the label on the jar in my mind.

Can't you just see grasswipe's little addled eyeballs looking like saucer dishes with the prospect of wheeling her little wagon through the English food section?  

Once there, she gazes at the selection of mincemeats on the shelf.  She gingerly picks up each jar and turns it around and around in her addled little hands, while nodding approvingly at the label art festooning each jar.  "Oh, if only our domestic labels were as classy and elegant as these", she laments!

She needs a jar with nice label art, because she intends to empty the English contents out and refill it with domestic mincemeat, and then sell it for a profit to an unsuspecting person on Craigslist.  As she makes her final selection, she checks the ingredients list.  " Oh no, high fructose corn syrup!  Well, generally, I wouldn't eat this, but is Europeeeean high fructose corn syrup, so it must be okay."

As she leaves, she takes a moment to pause and give a disapproving glance to an uninformed shopper who is buying mincemeat out of the domestic food section.  She thinks for a moment about patting herself on the back, but she hasn't been able to pull off that gymnastical maneuver ever since she started wearing seven coats at the same time.  Instead, she blinks once while pulling her scruffy coats around her ever more tighter, and scampers off the the checkout lane.  Mission accomplished.  

[franksolich]

That, sir, is a wonderful characterization of the pie-and-jam primitive.

[jtyangel]

She's nuts. I can find it any grocery store here anytime of the year, but you will see a couple different varieties in the baking section around Christmas as opposed to just one.

We also partake of Christmas pudding. For those not in the know, grasswire would be right about this--both are delicious. Very rich though.

Mincemeat is indeed more raisins and apples and spices and a little liquor with a just a little suet. you don't taste meat though so I assume it is just a base of some kind that thickens it. My mother makes the mini pies with a pinch of sugar on the top crust..OMG! Very good.

Christmas pudding too is more like a dense cake with figs and other similar fruits. Again, brandy or rum thrown in. My mum serves it with Byrd's Custard. Good stuff but I can only eat a little because it is very very rich.

But maybe it's where grasswire lives. I would expect the closer one gets to the east and northern coasts the better chances of finding mincemeat considering the heritage of the area back to the roots of our country.

[jtyangel]

I have never had it with actual meat in it,just things like raisins etc.
It is good if not runny.

I found this amusing.
 

From what I know about "English" food I would say that area would be the big green container in the back alley.

Runny? Oh dear carl..someone is destroying the mincemeat then or making their own and the consistency is off. It should be thicker like preserves, but not jelly.Not quite that thick but certainly not runny. Maybe a bigger pie is that way since my mother usually  makes smaller pies..perhaps taht's why because it stays together better.

[jtyangel]

What a pack of pretentious twits.
Make a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, and everybody would eat it.

Beer, don't forget the freaking beer.

While I agree they are, there are some of us who descend quite directly from a European and as such still enjoy the traditions of our roots Nothing pretentious  about it; it's just part of our traditions:-)

[franksolich]

She's nuts.

Madam, that said it all.

And a very merry Christmas to you and yours!

[jtyangel]

Madam, that said it all.

And a very merry Christmas to you and yours!

You as well. As for the mincemeat, I bet she isn't looking carefully enough. Some stores will keep it on the top or lower shelves even during the holidays...perhaps it was moved too to acomodate, as you said, more traditionally domestic supplies for baking and the extra stocked during this time. I can even find it at walmart here so...Of course, they are selling it for ridiculous prices online at places like Amazon so perhaps some areas do not have it. Perhaps I should pull a grasswire and go by up 10 jars at about 6 bucks here and throw those babies up on craigslist in her area for 30 bucks a pop(the going rate on Amazon).

[Celtic Rose]

While I agree they are, there are some of us who descend quite directly from a European and as such still enjoy the traditions of our roots Nothing pretentious  about it; it's just part of our traditions:-)

My grandmother makes a mince meat pie every year as well. 

[GOBUCKS]

She thinks for a moment about patting herself on the back, but she hasn't been able to pull off that gymnastical maneuver ever since she started wearing seven coats at the same time. 

I've wondered about that, poor addled Judy Smith's quirk of wearing multiple, bulky overcoats even in warm weather.

I always just chalked it up to her overall derangement, an outward manifestation of a confused, frazzled brain.

But then I started to think about her status as the matriarch of six or seven generations while still in her sixties.

Obviously her clan breeds exceedingly early and exceedingly often, and there's no reason to believe that trait fades with age.

Maybe, just maybe, Judy wears all those coats, with their attendant sweating and odor generation, to discourage the advances of her still-frenzied male relatives.

[BattleHymn]

Maybe, just maybe, Judy wears all those coats, with their attendant sweating and odor generation, to discourage the advances of her still-frenzied male relatives.

As hilarious and ridiculous as your idea may be, I think you are on to something.  Using the same level of detail to scientific approach that Pretzel_Warrior and nads use, I hit up Google for an answer, and came up with this:

On a first meeting, men find these qualities to be the most unappealing:

1. Poor personal hygiene
2. Narcissism/Lack of empathy
3. Lack of sexual chemistry
4. Boredom/Lack of adventure
5. Immaturity/Childishness
6. Racist or prejudice speech
7. Extreme views on religion
8. Lack of spark
9. Lack of intelligence
10. Lack of drive/Ambition

source:http://www.yourtango.com/201176689/top-10-traits-most-likely-repel-man

If your theory is true, grasswipe clearly did her homework and went straight for the top of the list.  Obviously, she tacked on a few others, like #9, for good measure.   

[Dori]

She's probably malnourished and needs all those coats for warmth.