Edgar's Mincemeat

Total Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• 3 lbs blade roast (choose meat that is quite fatty)
• 3 lbs lamb shoulder (choose meat that is quite fatty)
• 3 1/2 lbs firm tart apples
• 2 oranges
• 3 1/2 lbs raisins
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 5 cups maraschino cherries, halved and juiced
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon grated nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon allspice
• 8 ounces mixed fruit, cut up
• 1 tablespoon salt
• apple juice, if needed
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Recipe

• 1 place meat in a large pots with cold water to cover. bring to a boil, uncovered over low heat. skim foam as it rises. let lamb simmer for about 1 1/2 hours; beef for 2 hours. remove from broth and cool.
• 2 put meat through a grinder and weigh out a desired amount (you should have about 3 1/2 lbs).
• 3 wash and core apples, but do not peel. put through the food grinder, along with the unpeeled oranges (cut in wedges to remove seeds if necessary).
• 4 in a large roasting pan, combine meat, apples and oranges with all remaining ingredients except the apple juice. and vanilla,.
• 5 place in a 200f oven for 2 hours, stirring frequently. increase oven temperature to 300f and bake for another hour. if mixture appears to be dry, add apple juice to get preferred consistency.
• 6 remove from heat and add vanilla.
• 7 use immediately or let cool before storing in the refrigerator for a week or so to age. bottle or package in pie-size amounts for gift-giving or freezing.
• 8 use with pastry of choice; place mincemeat in an unbaked pie shell, cover with pastry and bake. makes 7 pies and about a dozen tarts; 4 cups fill one 9-inch pie.