ellen_datlow

I read that as 'Hedgehog Whisky' at first and all sorts of explanations and images started popping into my brain.

For me it's mince pies, which reminds me, I need to get some . . . or perhaps this year I shall finally attempt to make some myself.

I don't think I've ever eaten a mince pie.
I have to admit that I love some types of fruit cakes.

My grandfather always insisted on having two pies (at Thanksgiving *and* Christmas), one pumpkin and one mince. He also insisted every year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, that the correct name for what we call "mince pie" is actually "mock mince pie", as it contains no meat.

I had American mince pie once. I was expecting the English sort and got a nasty surprise. :(

And how do the two types differ?

All of the British ones I've ever had have been composed of a shortbread-y crust and a very thick mixture inside, almost the consistency of pecan pie filling (but otherwise nothing like pecan pie, just for the record). Gooey. This American one had a thinner crust and a runny brown filling that tasted very, very strongly of alcohol, maybe rum or bourbon. Definitely not what I was expecting.

Maybe it was just a another type of mince instead of the traditional one I was used to having in the UK? Anybody know what I'm talking about, here? Not really sure if it was a regional thing or what.

The one I had in America looked more like this or this, as opposed to this or this.

And now I've made myself hungry looking at pictures of pie. Great.

I don't remember having seen (mock) mince pies with a lattice crust before. The ones I've had definitely were along the American lines, though, not shortbready at all.

I love pumpkin. So what is "mince" actually made of?

Dried fruit, chopped apples and nuts, lard or suet, brandy. The English version has chopped meat in it as well, and is usually denser and smaller.

Thanks.
The English one I might like to taste...but not the American.

None of the English ones I've ever had contained meat, so that might be a thing of the past. They DO usually have suet in them, though, so if you're vegetarian or vegan you still might want to pass. You can't taste anything but delicious fruit and spices, but it's in there.

Well, "real" mince would be minced meat, probably whatever scraps were left over from the big late autumn/early winter butchering. The meat would be spiced heavily to preserve it, and the pies would be chockful of lard, suet, dried fruits, and whatever else filling and fatty was around to be thrown in. In the US, at least, the tradition of minced meat pies died out as the extras in the filling became more important than the meat. "Mock" mince pies are basically fruit cake ingredients in pie form, as far as I can tell.

I'm not talking the giant type of mince pie either, more the smaller more delicious snack variety. Will be doing post with photos over on the BookBanter blog (bookbanter.wordpress.com) later today.

The Corelli Christmas Concerto. I put on my old I Musici record and listen to it every December 25, if I can't get together with an actual string ensemble and play it live.

That sounds lovely. What instrument do you play?

I was a violinist as a child until halfway through college. Now I sing--I just got back from our second Christmas concert with an Irish-folk/trad Nashville family, the Willis Clan. Eight(!) kids on stage with us!

The concert sounds wonderful.

Definitely my fruit cake made from my grandmother's recipe. Yum! You can eat it plain, with ice cream or even toast it for breakfast.

I love shortbread, but I think I'll avoid the mince :-)

Yum indeed.

For eats, though I have access all year to those little fruit-shaped marzipans, I wait until I'm with my family for the holidays before eating any! And my father makes traditional British-style fruitcake with lots of real dried fruit (no glowing citron. . . don't tell him, but I also love that stuff, too!), nuts, booze, and all kinds of goodies.

My husband and I have a tradition where we make Smoking Bishop and he reads aloud the version of A Christmas Carol that Dickens used to read at parties and stuff. Sometimes we have people over, sometimes not! Or, if he has a cold or doesn't feel like it for some reason, we drink the Bishop while listening to our recording of Patrick Stewart reading A Christmas Carol (which I've done every year since I was a wee child and owned them on audio cassette).

Good times! And I think this is the recipe we use for Smoking Bishop: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=890045

Sounds wonderful. I had to look up Smoking Bishop...sounds a little like German Gluwein, which I'm not very fond of. But it sounds better :-)
I love marzipan and every year or so I buy a marzipan "log" in dark chocolate down the block at Li Lac chocolate shop.

Wowza, that gluwein sounds fierce! Holy moly.

Marzipan is one of the few things I'm a stickler about. If I'm craving it during the year I buy the Ritter Sport marzipan bar to tide me over, because it's totally a holiday food for me! I enjoy the anticipation sooooo much.

The holiday party you wrote about sounds super-fun! I had to look up "Christmas Rap" and it's awesome! So fun! BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THE KRAMPUS????: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmqsEHl3P8

I'm very choosy about my marzipan--some isn't sweet enough and some is too sweet.

I watched that--verrrry interesting :-) Liz Hand says there's another song called Krampus Night but she's not in the room right now so I can't ask her who sings it.

Here's Krampusnacht:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOVGQcJjMkc

Oh, awesomeness!! Thanks for the link!