When I was growing up, pies were pecan, chocolate, coconut and lemon meringue. In that order. It’s possible that I have made a mincemeat pie for some dinner during my cooking years, but I’m not sure. However, with the fall season here, I thought I should do so, and went looking for a recipe.
What I discovered is that there are as many ways to make mincemeat pie as there are to make vegetable soup. About the only constants for the former are mincemeat, either homemade or purchased, raisins and nuts.
Many of the traditional recipes ask for pork suet, and some of the older recipes ask for beef. I kinda skipped that part.
Most of us, especially those who are new to the mincemeat pie business, will buy the mincemeat (minus the suet) in a jar and go from there, adding nuts, raisins, etc., as is done in the recipe shared with us today by the late Lita Gibson.
Mrs. Gibson and her husband, the Rev. Barnwell Gibson, pastored First Baptist Church in Bamberg from 1975 until the early 1980s. From there, they went to Timmonsville First Baptist Church, and then to First Baptist Church in Carthage, N.C. Mrs. Gibson died in January 2007, and Rev. Gibson has since remarried.
Lita is lovingly remembered, and so is her mincemeat pie. Her son, Jimmy Gibson, and his wife, Teresa, who live in Asheboro, N.C., say that they have this pie every Christmas and that the recipe, which we are sharing today, was from his grandmother, Lita’s mother. Jimmy and Teresa have three children – Bart, Alexandra and Bryce. Lita and Barnwell’s other son, Frank, and his son, Gave, live in Asheboro.
After Lita’s husband retired, they moved back to Asheboro, N.C. While they lived and pastored churches in South Carolina and afterward, Lita taught school, and, as many ministers’ wives do, played the piano or organ at church as needed and sang in the choir. She had a beautiful voice, son Jimmy said. She also enjoyed cross-stitching.
This is a heavy pie, so you will want to make the serving portions small. It is also a good pie, and one you should try for its American tradition, if for no other reason. We thank Mrs. Gibson for sharing it with us, even posthumously, during this Thanksgiving-Christmas season when traditions are strong – so make it soon and enjoy it for a special holiday meal for any … Sunday Dinner.
Mincemeat Pie
½ cup sugar
½ cup syrup
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
½ cup raisins
Crust for two-crust pie
½ cup purchased mincemeat
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, salt and shortening.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the remaining ingredients (except the crusts).
Bring to a boil the saucepan of sugar, etc., and then pour this hot syrup over the egg mixture. Stir well and let cool.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Fit one pie crust into the pie plate, pour in the cooled mincemeat mixture. Top with remaining crust. Crust may be used whole or cut into strips to make a criss-cross pattern. If using whole, make slits in crust.
Bake 30-35 minutes.