Delia's mincemeat

I'm not sure I've ever had a beef suet dumpling. My mum never made dumplings and I've only made them since vegetarian suet became a thing. Maybe beef ones would taste even better!

I made dumplings with it, they were not the same.
Perhaps my imagination but I could taste the difference.

I usually just buy it at xmas for the pud. If I bought it all year round Id just eat dumplings all year round until I was dumpling-shaped too!

I live and learn! Don't buy suet very often and clearly not with my eyes open.

Vegetarian suet has been around for many years. Both my dils are vegetarian and I've been using it in recipes for them for over 15 years and I know I used it prior to that. It wasn't easy to get back then, though - I had to buy it when I saw it!

Yes, I am pretty sure it has been available in supermarkets for well over 10 years. I would only have come across it in Sainsbury's or Waitrose.

I have done a bit of googling and the earliest reference I can find to it is in The Guardian in 2005 when Rose Prince refers to vegetarians using vegetable suet to make mincemeat. It was a casual reference, so it was clearly generally available then and nothing unusual.

MOnica, has it always been in all the supermarkets? I only saw it for the first time this year.

Vegetarian suet has been around for a 10 or 20 years. My sister was a vegetarian for many years and I used it to make Christmas puddings when she was with us over Christmas. She began eating meat again at least a decade ago.

humpty you probably never look at the suet in the supermarkets so probably had no idea you could get vegetarian. I think it may be quite a new thing as it surprised me.

Surely the only animal material in mincemeat is suet and this can just be replaced with vegetarian suet, which is in every supermarket that I have looked in, on the shelf next to the meat based suet.

That means you can use any standard mincemeat recipe you wish with this one substitution.

Any good revipes for vegetarian mincemeat please?!

Well I thought I made them for the freezer but DS and DiL came round early evening then DH came home late, just before I went to bed. Not worth freezing what are left!

Maybe Sue I got mine online less than a week ago.

The one I used is in my ancient copy of Delia's Christmas. Maybe she's updated it!

I think I can smell those mince pies from here, Nonnie.

Sue, maybe there is more than one Delia recipe because the one I have just used tastes very much better than any I have ever bought. Wish I had started making my own from the beginning.

They have just come out the oven and I am very tempted to try just one........

I always use veggie suet and I'm another Delia fan. I make her mincemeat and the 3 basic stuffing recipes in her Delias Christmas book, unbeatable.

I've made Delia's mincemeat, too, but I have to say that unlike my own cake recipe and Delia's pud, I didn't find it any different from a good shopbought mincemeat. I wonder where I went wrong!

Btw, if anyone has a vegetarian in the family, you can buy vegetarian suet from Atora.

Just going to make the first batch of mince pies. Of course I will have to taste to check they are of a suitable quality for the family before freezing them. Once DS knows they are made I doubt there will be any left in a few weeks.

I cannot buy mincemeat as it usually contains nuts and DDiL and DGD both have nut allergies.

MOnica The cooking is at very low temp. It is just to melt the suet really, so that it coats the fruit.

I never use the brandy and it keeps well , sugar is a preservative . I also make a version with no suet for picky sister and it keeps well too . I cook mine in a deep casserole dish and use it straight from the dish to make the pies . What is left , or smuggled out goes in sterilized jars , both versions are good the following year

I have a jar of last year's non alcoholic mincemeat left so will try it soon.. Fingers crossed will be well. Never used alcohol and not had problems with things in the past.

I buy jars of good ready made mincemeat then doctor It with cherries nuts port and brandy and leave it soak a few days before using..it's yummy oh and apple.

I do not know DElia's recipe, but cooking mincemeat at all (except prior to consumption in a pie or other dish), let alone for three hours sounds completely alien to me. For mine, I mix the ingredients raw, and put them in clean jars raw. Admittedly they are never in jars for much more than a month, but I have never had any trouble with it.