Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Several more readers have shared recipes for mincemeat in response to Leona Stiles' request.
Each recipe is different, and not all of them include beef as Stiles requested, but they're all worth sharing.
The first recipe is from Carol (last name not given).
"I too always made mincemeat this time of year. That was because I used green tomatoes and I took them in to make chow chow and mincemeat before the frost got them. This is my recipe and I can assure you that it is good," Carol writes.
"When I do use this, or any other mincemeat, I add pecans to make a great pie."
Green Tomato Mince Meat
3 cups chopped tart apples
2 cups chopped green tomatoes
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 pound raisins
1/4 cup vinegar
1 cup chopped suet
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon EACH salt, allspice and cloves
Peel and chop apples. Mix all ingredients. Bring to a rapid boil and boil until thick. Pour into clean canning jars to within 1 inch of top. Put on cap and ring screwing firmly tight. Process in hot bath for 25 minutes.
Robert McDonald shares this version which he credits to Ruby Burgess.
"This is definitely not the mincemeat requested by Ms. Stiles, but perhaps she could adjust it. ... It is delicious and bears no resemblance to the store-bought kind," McDonald writes. "[Burgess] said if it is too rich, cut up an eating apple and add to it."
"It was at least 70 years ago when I ate [this] but have never forgotten it."
Pork Mincemeat
1 hog's head (or the equivalent weight in pork loin or chuck roast)
2 pounds dried apples
1 pound dried peaches
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons EACH allspice and cloves
6 cups sugar
6 cups fruit juice, blackberry or grape
Cook the hog's head in water until the meat drops from bones. Cool. Run meat through food chopper together with the apples and peaches. In a large pot, combine the meat and fruit mixture with the spices, sugar and juice. Cook until fruit is tender. Add water as it boils away until fruit is done. Then cook until thick. Seal in jars.
Makes about 6 quarts.
This next one is from D. Jean Pitre.
"I am almost 80 years old. I remember my grandma and two aunts making this every year since I was little. They mixed it up in the sink and then canned it. My grandma has been gone now about 44 years. So you can imagine how old this recipe is," Pitre writes.
Mince Meat
2 1/2 pounds cooked beef and beef stock
4 pounds apples
1 pound raisins
1 pound currants
3 oranges plus some of peel
4 lemons plus peel
2 tablespoons nutmeg
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon cloves
2 tablespoons mace
1 pound sugar or to taste
1/4 cup salt
1 pint vinegar
Any old fruit or soured fruit jelly
Grape juice, bourbon and/or wine, to taste
Grind all ingredients together. Cook slowly, stirring frequently or it will scorch. Cook about 11/2 hours or until done.
And finally, Sally Scott shares this one.
"This was in The Household Searchlight cookbook that belonged to my great aunt, Florence Rumsey, who lived in Bentonville on A Street."
Mince Meat
4 pounds apples
2 pounds lean beef or veal, chopped
21/2 pounds raisins
4 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
Grape juice, cider or water
1/2 pound suet, ground
1 1/2 pounds currants
1/4 pound citron, ground
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mace
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup molasses
Pare, core and chop the apples. Combine with remaining ingredients, adding enough grape juice, cider or water to moisten. Simmer until meats and fruits are tender and flavors are blended. If desired, any other fruit juice may be substituted for the grape juice or cider.
Pack in freshly sterilized jars. Seal.
REQUEST
• Apple fritters like those served at the Red Apple Inn on Eden Isle near Heber Springs for an unidentified reader.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 11/30/2016