Traditional Mincemeat Pie
Originally made with venison or other game meat, this historically traditional New England dish fell out of favor, partly because wild game became harder to find in suburban grocery stores. Howev...
Ark of Taste
Holiday Food Traditions in Connecticut
In the 1945 film, Christmas in Connecticut, food writer Elizabeth Lane is forced to confront the fact that she is a fraud. As the nation’s most successful food writer, she can barely flip a pancake, much less properly prepare roast goose with walnut dressing. She eventually learns the value of honesty, particularly when it comes to love, giving a happy ending to a beloved holiday film.
Elizabeth Lane’s Christmas dinner menu in the movie contains many items that we might find strange today, like olives and celery soufflé, and others that might seem familiar, like candied sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Or maybe for you that’s the other way around? Really, aren’t all holiday traditions local, even “hyper local,” meaning that one family follows them? One friend roasts goose for Michaelmas, another serves leche flan on Christmas Eve, and another serves freshly fried latkes for Hanukkah. Pineapple delight, lasagna, and popcorn all make their way to our tables, depending on our personal holiday rituals.
A survey of traditions from around the state finds many mouth-watering variations. Farmington’s Hillstead Museum sometimes re-creates architect Theodate Pope Riddle’s menu with oysters, roast beef, and plum pudding. At the Butler-McCook House in Hartford, dinner in 1866 included mock turtle soup and frozen pudding, while the Olmsteds’ Revolution-era Thanksgiving included turnips and peppery chicken pies. According to the Lymes’ Heritage Cookbook, a cheese and vegetable “Christmas Bird-Count Chowder” was served to avian enthusiasts in Old Lyme, while Connecticut Cooks lists a “Christmas Soufflé” that includes an optional half-teaspoon of curry powder.
One item on the menu in Christmas in Connecticut was once a universally popular dish in New England: mince pie. You can find versions in hundreds of recipe books, from world-famous ones, like Lydia Maria Child’s American Frugal Housewife (1833), to forgotten local gems, like the New Kirmesse Cookbook (sponsored by Waterbury’s First Church Mission Circle in 1904). And wonderfully, you can still find mince pies served at the Bishop’s Orchards farm store and at Washington, Connecticut’s, Mayflower Inn and Spa.
Originally made with venison or other game meat, the dish fell out of favor, partly because wild game became harder to find in suburban grocery stores. However, now that we can order ground venison (or alligator, for that matter) online and have it delivered to our homes, perhaps it is time to resurrect this excellent half-meal, half-dessert dish for our next holiday extravaganza.
Try it for yourself! We've got our own, homemade recipe, just below.
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