Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! Leaving a mince pie out for Santa this year? I do hope so. This year’s Christmas Special is all about mince pies: the history and baking, as well as the confusion surrounding the fact that there’s no meat in them. Neil makes some early 18th-century-shaped pies and makes a sweet lamb mincemeat from the North of England. He’s on a mission to get the meat back into mincemeat AND to have them on the menu outside of the Christmas period. A huge thank you to Ivan Day for his help regarding the making of those 18th-century pies. *blog posts of recipes to accompany the episode will appear on Wednesday 20th December and Friday 22nd December 2023.* Things mentioned in today’s episode: Ivan Day’s blog post about mince pies The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management Receipts of Pastry and Cookery by Edward Kidder Jane Grigson’s Orange Mincemeat Mrs Beeton’s Mincemeat Recipe Jane Grigson’s Gooseberry Tarts recipe Ivan Day’s historical pie-making course Neil’s appearance on the Full English podcast Neil’s appearance on the Shackbaggerly podcast Neil's A Dark History of Sugar talk Neil's Museum of Royal Worcester talk Previous episodes mentioned in today’s episode: Pagan Lent and Easter (includes a section on hot cross buns) Elizabeth Raffald with Alessandra Pino & Neil Buttery Christmas Feasting with Annie Gray a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VHPXQhHdfRGRGl3AHaBtv?si=666e31a53bb845b8" rel="noopener noreferrer"...