The Perry Republican, February 7, 1918. Even now I am assimilating a couple of slices of mince pie, and dainty is not a word that comes to mind. Though this batch I made with dry sherry rather than brandy, and it does yield a somewhat less fierce comestible.
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In 1918, mince was still sufficiently au courant to be a column filler–although the “embattled mince” trope was already, what, 40 years old? By 1940, mincemeat was a Thanksgiving- and Christmas-only item, bought in a jar, except by a few Westerners with venison neck to use up. By 1960, it was as dead as Fletcherizing. What the hell happenened?
What the hell happenened?
It is beyond perplexing! The Roanoke Colony, the Marie Celeste, Judge Crater–these are just knock-knock jokes compared to the mystery of mince.
Maybe at some point the Ritz cracker box had a recipe for Phantom Mince Pie. (“Add one bottle root beer to 5 boxes crumbled Ritz crackers. Top with more Ritz crackers.”)
Kibo, I think that recipe is going to have to go in the book.
I’m going to have it for breakfast. I’ll report back.
Good theory , Kibo. You might want to do some resarch into those horrible Kraft recipes. I still get the heebie jeebies thinking about one of those TV ad recipes .The ingredients were something like Kraft peanut butter , Kraft minneeyatcher marshmallows and Niblets corn.The right recipe to the right audience could have done some real damage to the mince pie fan base.