Mincemeat

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Mincemeat was originally a conglomeration of bits of meat, dried fruit and spices, created as an alternative to smoking or drying for preservation, a variant form of sausage. Mincemeat containing actual meat has become less common over the years. The customary form today typically consists of raisins, spices, grated apple, and animal suet, though many commercial varieties use hard vegetable fat instead, making it completely vegetarian. Mincemeat may also contain currants, candied fruits, and brandy, rum or other liquor.

This mixture can be made at home, but is also available either canned or bottled. The most common use is in the Christmas mince pie or mincemeat tart, but there are many kinds of pastry containing mincemeat. See also fruitmince.

The first mincemeat factory was in Port Byron, New York, using a recipe patented by Dr. Julius Allen. His patent was voided in 1895.

[edit] Etymology

The mince in mincemeat traces its roots back to the Latin minutia ("something small"). The word mincemeat is an adaptation of an earlier term minced meat, simply meaning that, "meat chopped into small pieces". As an ingredient or substance, however, mincemeat has almost always been one word.

The term mincemeat has become a common image, even perhaps a cliché. To make mincemeat out of one's adversary is to impose defeat in an especially complete and humiliating manner.