Guide Jack Gann mixes up some Georgian mincemeat
The festive season means it’s time for York Castle Museum’s guides to roll up their sleeves and get back into the Kitchen Studio for a bit of Christmas baking.
This year the focus is on historic mince pie recipes, one from Tudor times, one from the Georgian era and an up-to-date meat-free recipe from Nigella Lawson.
Denise Hamilton, deputy senior guide, says: “Staff love cooking in the Kitchen Studio – it is one of the highlights of the Christmas period. We have one guide making the mince pie recipes for visitors to watch and another talking about the old recipes and answering any questions.”
Jack gets a Tudor pie out of the oven ready for glazing
The Tudor recipe, from A book of Cookrye Very necessary for all such delight therin (1584), is made from the usual fruit and sugar, but is mixed with beef mince, an unusual combination these days, but Denise says visitors usually enjoy it.
“People are quite suprised they quite like it!
“Visitors usually want to listen to a bit of history, but then they want a taste – they enjoy tasting the difference between the recipes.”
Brushing the meaty Tudor pie with a rosewater, sugar and butter glaze
Both the Tudor recipe and the Georgian recipe, from Elizabeth Moxon’s English Housewifry (1764), contain rosewater, a popular ingredient dating back as far as 8th century Arabic recipes and a popular remedy for depresssion during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The final recipe from Nigella Lawson’s 2000 book, How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, misses out suet altogether, adding chopped apples to the mix.
You can come and see the pies being made, and if you’re lucky, get a taste, every Saturday and Sunday from 26 November – 18 December and every day from 19 – 23 December.
For more on Christmas at the Castle, see our website.
The Georgian mincemeat mixture
The Tudor mince pie before being glazed
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