How To make President Taft Pumpkin Pie

Library Lunch & Learn Cooking & Culinary Stories with Alex Prud'homme

Library Lunch & Learn Cooking & Culinary Stories with Alex Prud’homme, Dinner with the President, coauthor of Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France and more, and Rebecca Federman, Assistant Director of the General Research Division and the Center for Research in the Humanities at the New York Public Library.

Old Fashioned Mincemeat Pie ~ Homemade Mincemeat Pie Recipe ~ Piesgiving ~ Noreen's Kitchen

See how I made the Mincemeat pie filling in this video:

Today we are sharing an old fashioned mincemeat pie! This pie is literally a year in the making! I made a vegetarian mincemeat a year ago for a holiday video. It has been doing it's thing in the back of my fridge for that long. It has aged to perfection and is ready to fill this traditional holiday pie with it's spicy, warm goodness and make us all happy that the holidays are very close!

Mincemeat developed as a way of preserving meat without salting or smoking over 500 years ago in the British Isles, where mince pies are still considered an essential accompaniment to holiday dinners. This pie hearkens back to the medieval traditions of spiced meat dishes. Mincemeat pies are a staple on nearly every holiday table in Great Britain to this day.

Mincemeat pie actually began as a main course dish with with more meat than fruit (a mixture of meat, suet, dried fruits, and spices). As fruits and spices became more plentiful in the 17th century, the spiciness of the pies increased accordingly.

Mince meat pie was born out of practicality and religiosity. During the Medieval era, cooks discovered, that sugar was a powerful preservative for meat When the Crusaders brought home Eastern spices, cooks added three of their new found discoveries to their mince meat—nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon – to represent the Three Wise Men. Then the crust of the pie was made oblong to symbolize a manger, with room for a pastry baby Jesus. Thirteen ingredients were used for Jesus and his apostles. In a way the pie was used as a Sunday School or Bible lesson to help teach children their catechism, but to also help adults remember their holy scriptures. You see, during this time Christianity was outlawed and had to be practiced in secret. This was one way for Medieval peoples to preserve their faith.

Mince meat pie was given many names including “shred pie,” “mutton pie,” and “Christmas pye,” and was much loved in England. But the Puritans brought a stop to the fun – upon gaining power in the mid-17th century, they abolished Christmas and censured mince meat pie along with other “idolatries” of Catholicism. And what’s worse, colonial America did the same – for 22 years in Massachusetts it was always winter and never Christmas. The pie’s sullied reputation stuck, and even in 1733 a writer still lamented that Puritans “inveigh[ed] against Christmas Pye, as an Invention of the Scarlet Whore of Babylon…the Devil and all his Works.”

In the 1800s, the Puritains, regained power over England and mince meat pie came back in force and became popularized once again. A 92-pound pie was given to President Taft in 1909, delivered in an oak case. It took on a few superstitions during its height, particularly for causing strange nightmares and evil yearnings. Factories churned out meatless mince meat in America, strengthening its popularity through wars and ration cards.

Mincemeat pie has seen ebbs and flows in it's popularity for many a year. This pie was easy to make. You can use your homemade mincemeat or you can use store bought. I promise this version is delicious.

I hope you are inspired to give this mincemeat pie a try and carry on an age old tradition that is a throw back to Medieval Times and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

You can find a printable version of this recipe on my website:


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