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Heritage Recipe: A Delicate Chewit
Try your hand at this forerunner to the Christmas Mine Pie
This historic recipe for a Delicate Chewit is the forerunner to what has become the modern Christmas mince pie, which is stuffed with dried fruit, bearing no real connection to it's meaty name. This one uses a mixture of meat and dried fruit popular in many historical British recipes. It's been adapted from A New Booke of Cookery, 1615, by Karen at CAVLP Heritage, as part of an exploration of fruity and foodie history of the Clyde and Avon Valley. Why not give it a go?
Ingredients
300g minced veal / pork, precooked and cooled
150g beef suet
60g bone marrow
1 large apple or 2 medium pears
300g dried fruit - mixed currants, raisins, sultanas
150g chopped dates
2tbsp mixed peel
50g brown sugar
1 tbsp nutmeg / mace
1.5 tbsp brandy / spiced rum / rosewater / apple juice
2 sheets shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten
White sugar for dusting pie
Method
1. Soak dried fruit in warm water or a splash of brandy / rum / rosewater / apple juice, until plump
2. Peel, core and chop apples / pears, then drain the dried fruit
3. Mix the meat, beef suet, fruit, dried fruit, half of the marrow, mixed peel, sugar and spices
4. Line a pie dish with pastry. Spoon in the mixture and dot the remaining marrow over the top
5. Sprinkle the pie filling with the brandy / rum / juice
6. Close pie with remaining pastry, brush lid with egg and
dust with white sugar. Use a pie bird or cut holes to let out steam
7. Bake at 200oC for 35 minutes until the crust is golden and fruit cooked through. Serve hot with cream or brandy butter. Enjoy!
Got a taste for more?
Additional historical recipes will be published soon in the Clyde Valley Apple Cookbook, available online on this website soon.
If you have family recipes you’d like to contribute, contact Karen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 01555 661 555.
