Take equal quantities of finely shred and chopped beef suet; cold roast beef, well roasted; currants, washed, dried, and picked; and raisins stoned and chopped; and apples, pared, cored, and chopped fine. Mix all these prepared ingredients well together, and sweeten with good moist Jamaica sugar, to taste; grate off with loaf sugar the peel of two lemons, and grate in two nutmegs. Having well mingled all these materials together, add to them in the proportion of your mincemeat, thus:- If you have two pounds of every thing - namely meat, suet, currants, raisins, and apples, and not quite two pounds of sugar, pour over the mixture a pint of rum, or French brandy, and half a pint of raisin wine. If spirits are disliked, raisin wine of a fine quality or Lisbon must be added; but the spirits will keep it three months. Fill a jar with your mince-meat, cram down as hard as possible, and cover with a close-fitting lid, tied down with brown paper. Be careful whenever you take out your meat, to cram down that in the jar with a spoon, and cover close. Line your tin dishes with puff or family paste; fill with mince meat heaped up in the middle, cut slices of candied orange, lemon, and citron peel, and put on your meat, cover in with paste; mark prettily with a knife, and bake in a quick oven; heat them for table.

It was formerly the custom in England for married couples to keep the anniversaries of their wedding days, and on those occasions as many small mince pies were placed on one dish on the table, as the host and hostess had been married years.