Cookbook talk:Mincemeat

Discussion
In 1880 when Bess Storm's mother, Anna Frances Lynch, packed her little, brown-paper covered trunk for the trip from Boston to Iowa, she slipped in a small applewood box. In the box she had put a few pieces of jewelry and a few of her favorite recipes, including this one for mincemeat that had been in her family for as long as anyone could remember.

Anna said that her grandmother, a devout temperance worker, took out the brandy and substituted vinegar and coffee, a combination that gives this recipe a distinct taste of its own.

This recipe has been a favorite family tradition for well over 100 years. If there exists a better mincemeat, we have yet to find it. What makes it special? Maybe the brandy. Maybe the coffee. (Recent generations have substituted dried coffee to hold down the excess liquid and shorten cooking time.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Frankatca (talk • contribs) 21:06, 30 January 2007 (UTC)