Mincemeat
This beef mincemeat follows the old Pennsylvania Dutch way, with simmered stew beef ground together with unpeeled apples, raisins, molasses, and cider vinegar. The sugar, spice, and vinegar kept it through cold months in a crock, and the refrigerator now does that job. Make it in late October and six to eight weeks of aging will leave it mellow in time for Thanksgiving. Baldwin or Cortland apples give the best flavor.
Instructions
Core the apples and remove the seeds, but leave the peels on. Cube the beef, cover it with water, and simmer until tender, which can take up to an hour.
Lift the meat out and cook the remaining stock down to the amount you need, or thicken it slightly with cornstarch. Put the meat through a food mill on a medium or coarse blade, or chop it to the same fineness in a food processor.
Halve the lemon and remove the seeds. Purée the whole lemon, rind included, in a blender with some of the liquid ingredients, or process it as finely as you can in a food processor.
Grind the apples with a coarse blade, taking care not to make them too fine. Combine the apples, meat, and raisins in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coffee, salt, vinegar, stock, molasses, and lemon purée. Rinse the last of the molasses out of its measure with hot meat stock and add that too, then stir thoroughly.
Cook slowly, uncovered, stirring often so the mixture does not burn. It is ready when it has been heated through to pasteurize it and enough liquid has evaporated to give the thickness you want.
Let the mixture cool, then stir in the ground pepper. Refrigerate it for several weeks so the spices can mellow, ideally 6 to 8 weeks.
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