I can’t seem to find American style mincemeat anywhere. When I was younger, we used to get Grandmother’s brand, that was available all year long. Now all I can find is a small, expensive Irish import that doesn’t seem nearly as thick and chunky as Grandmother’s is. I’ve been to Whole Foods, Trader Joes and all of the local (Boston area) grocery stores and I get told they either don’t carry it or only at Christmas. I’m really craving Racheal Ray’s Curry in a Hurry, which requires it, so I’m really want to find it. I tried googling it, to no avail.
My local grocery stores carry it year round in the baking aisle with all the pie fillings and the like. (I think it’s Grandmother’s brand, too.)
My e-mail address is in my profile. If you want to figure out some way for me to ship you some, e-mail me. (It will NOT result in Curry in a Hurry, however! How about Curry in a Week Or So?)
What exactly is mincemeat?
From Epicurious’s food dictionary:
A rich, spicy preserve made of fruit (usually chopped cherries, dried apricots, apples or pears, raisins and candied citrus peel), nuts, beef suet, various spices and brandy or rum. Old-time mincemeats included minced, cooked lean meat (usually beef) — hence the name. Most modern versions do not use meat. The ingredients are combined, then covered and allowed to mature for a month for the flavors to mingle and mellow. Commercially prepared mincemeat is available in jars in most supermarkets — particularly around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mincemeat can be used in many dishes including pies, tarts, puddings and cookies.
gfloyd, what are you going to do with the mincemeat. I’m just curious; I’m not with Homeland Security or anything.
A few English brands are available.
Um, you’re in New England, right? Go to the baking aisle of nearly any Market Basket/DeMoulas and look on the lowest shelf. They sell it in jars and in boxes. I don’t know who makes the brand that’s jarred but Borden makes the boxed variety. Where in MA is there a Trader Joe’s? I’ve yet to encounter one in my travels.
Completely irrelevant trivial bit of info: Grandmother’s (brand) Mince Meat was originally manufactured in Natick (MA) all the while that I was growing up there. They’ve since closed the factory and turned it into condos.
From the Natick Historical Society’s website : “Natick has had several food companies. Most notable is the Whipple Company established in 1899 by Harrison L. Whipple. Most famous for its “Grandmother’s Mincemeat” it was started in the back room of Mr. Whipple’s grocery store on North Main Street from a recipe of his grandmother, Mrs. Thomas Tuttle.”
So that’s what happened to your mincemeat, gfloyd; someone is living in it.
Cambridge MA
Mass Ave
Central Sq right by corner of Portland and Mass. if memory serves
We never did go to Market Basket. I just don’t like the ones near me, as they rarely have everything I want, so it didn’t cross my mind. I’ll check today and feel much the fool then, but I’ll have my mince meat, so I’ll be happy.
What do I use it for? Well, as I mentioned, making Curry in a Hurry. It uses mince meat and curry paste to make a very good tasting, if not authentid, dish. My old Irish grandmother used to make what she would refer to as mincemeat, which was a layer of mince meat between two thin layers of pie crust, baked and dusted with powdered sugar. My mother makes it sometimes, but is down to her last jar and isn’t happy about it. They stocked up at Christmastime.
If you live in New Hampshire, the closest Trader Joe’s might be the one I frequent, which is in Tynsbough, across the the Pheasant Lane Mall (so it’s in Nashua for all intensive purposes). There is also one right off 128 in Burlington, MA, near the mall.
Also one on Mass Ave in Arlington, and another on (I think) Memorial Drive in Cambridge - where that big computer store is whose name I can’t remember.
Last fall - probably in October - I was looking for mincemeat. Oh, I remember - my wife’s family is Canadian, so we were having a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner and I wanted to make a mincemeat pie. I went to, like, six grocery stores - nothing. No one had it. Everwhere I asked, they said they only carried it from mid-November through Christmas. :mad: I guess the Southerners around here are not known for being that fond of mincemeat. Or being fond of Canadian Thanksgiving, maybe.
I would have ordered it online somewhere, but I waited until the last day to look for it.
My late mother-in-law would make a huge batch of old-fashioned mincemeat, with pulled beef, for the church rummage sale every year. People stood in line for the quart jars, and they’d be gone as fast as the cash could change hands. She always kept a couple jars for mince pies at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners.
That one is one of the three in Massachusetts that sell “two buck Chuck”.
Here’s a list of all the Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts.
The Stop and Shop in Brigham Circle (Boston) has it, last time I checked. They do NOT keep it with the other pie fillings. It was in the – let’s see – frozen kids’ toys made of meat aisle, as I recall. It was pretty intuitive to find it.
Not.
Cross & Blackwell (Canadian?) used to make mincemeat in a jar. Been years since I shopped for it - I’m the only one in the family that would eat it (English Grandmother).
I got it at a chain called “World Trader”.
Do you mean this kind of mincemeat?
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Victory is mine! Okay, so I am a little excited, but I found some. I only had to go to two Market Baskets to find it, but I did. They had three different brands, a variety of flavors, including my favorite Grandmother’s brand. Thank you all for helping me. Curry in a Hurry for dinner tomorrow .