'Don't mess with our mince pies,' plead British

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Every Christmas, Brits devour about 800 million mince pies, but moves to jazz up the festive sweet treats made of dried fruit and pastry are stirring anger among purists.

It is the source of some puzzlement to the outside world that British mince pies have not in fact been filled with minced meat for centuries.

Instead, the mincemeat encased in an individual shortcrust pastry pie is a mixture of different dried fruits, chopped apples and spices soaked in spirits such as brandy and rum.

In recent years, however, home cooks and big supermarket chains have begun to experiment, putting their own twist on the pies by adding less traditional ingredients to try to tempt more adventurous palates.

Variations include topping the individual oven-baked pies with glace icing or frangipane, adding chocolate, salted caramel or even custard to the filling — to the dismay of food writer Felicity Cloake.

“Monstrosities” is how Cloake describes such adaptations, telling AFP mince pies “are not broke and do not need fixing”.

It seems palates have become “so jaded these days that we need to ring the changes and have whatever fashionable flavour is currently dominating TikTok in the pies,” she said.

She said she wasn’t against tweaking recipes, but that the fruit and traditional flavours should always be the star attraction.

‘Contemporary twist’

Cloake said her main objections to new recipes were they added overpowering flavours and too much sweetness.

Some of her least favourite inventions included adding chocolate or Speculoos biscuits, or worst of all – bacon.

Cloake concedes, however, that some innovations can be tasty such as the mince pies produced by London bakery Pophams.

Although she said the Pophams’ version “tests” her traditionalist stance it was still “really rather good”.

The bakery uses its signature croissant dough for a mince pie filled with classic mincemeat and citrus and ginger-flavoured cream.

It describes it as a blend of “nostalgic flavour with a fresh, contemporary twist”.

“We have great respect for the classic shortcrust mince pie, but we believe in the power of innovation – especially when it creates something so delicious,” said creative director Lucy McWhirter.

But some mince pie traditionalists said even careful adaptations were probably “too much”.

North London florist Marti Warren, 56, said additions such as chocolate or salted caramel were “my nightmare”.

“Mince pies should be traditional. I don’t like messing with them because they are great as they are”, she said, adding that there was also a “nostalgic” element that brought back memories of “Christmases of the past”.

According to Britain’s National Archive, a newly discovered 17th century recipe for “minst pyes” included minced meat — often lamb, but sometimes even beef or pork.

Deep fat fried

Retired American lawyer Andrea Lass agreed that introducing new ingredients turned “something simple and pure into something overdone and contrived”.

Having developed a love of mince pies over 40 years living in Britain, she said her key criteria was that there should be a thin crust and a traditional and plentiful filling.

“Don’t try to sell me on all crust and no filling because that is like all hat and no cattle as they say in Texas,” she said.

With the range of “adapted” mince pies on supermarket shelves seemingly growing every year, Cloake said she was happy to be the person who puts “herself out there” to try to change people’s minds.

But she had a word of warning for anyone tempted to try deep fat frying them.

Having experimented with this in the past, she said the result was “quite delicious” but not something she’d repeat.

The filling of shop-bought mince pies becomes so hot when immersed in boiling oil that it is practically “incendiary”, she warned.

“Don’t attempt this after a glass of sherry!” she joked.