Celebrate Fall Apples

Erma, you are right. It certainly doesn’t feel like fall yet. And unfortunately, there is not a lot of fall produce to work with either. Usually by now there are bushels of apples and piles of pumpkins everywhere you look. But not this year. That late freeze did a big number on all the fruit trees, and especially the apples. The few apples showing up in the grocery appear to be left over from last year as they just don’t have that fresh snap and juiciness.

My daughter has been begging for my French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce, and it really needs tart and juicy apples to be any good. This is a recipe from the 1920’s and the addition of graham cracker crumbs and the nutmeg sauce make it a welcome change from the more traditional apple pie.

As always, the fresher the fruit, and the fresher the spices, the better the pie. Rome Beauties or MacIntosh apples are good here, and nothing tops fresh grated nutmeg that you grate right there with a spice mill or a hand nutmeg grater.

French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce:

8 cups of tart apples
½ cup water
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 unbaked pie crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Peel and slice apples and place in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender which will be about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar gently so apples hold their shape. Using a large slotted spoon, arrange the apples in the crust.

In small mixing bowl, stir in the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and sugar. Add room temperature butter and vanilla and mix with a fork until you have coarse crumbs. Sprinkle this topping evenly over the apples.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes and then reduce temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 30 minutes until pastry turns light brown.

Nutmeg Sauce:

1 egg yolk
½ cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon nutmeg

In small saucepan, beat the egg yolk, sugar, and milk together with a hand whisk. Heat to just boiling and remove from heat immediately. Add the nutmeg and stir thoroughly.

Serve the pie warm with hot Nutmeg Sauce.

The Ultimate Mincemeat for Thanksgiving Pies

Max, my mouth began to burn just reading that Yellow Peach Pickle! Are you sure that “Spicy”, “Hot”, “Firy” wasn’t a part of the title? I think it should be renamed Three Alarm Pickle!!

Forget your New York friend and her Uncooked Relish (unless, of course, you have tons of excess little green tomatoes). Turn them into the best Non-Meat Mincemeat in the world!!

I have always believed that the reason people SAY they dislike Mincemeat is that the only kind they have ever eated is that little box of dehydrated, so-called mincemeat that probably was probably manufactured a decade ago. Well, it is that dry!! Or they think mincemeat is one of those frozen pies in the supermarket.

Well, they have never eaten some of my homemade mincemeat. We NEVER put meat in our mincemeat. I once saw a recipe that suggested using venison in place of the beef. What a way to make something horrible. Use tough, old venison!!

I will confess, Max, that I have never made mincemeat the same way twice. It sort of depends on what we have on hand. My ancient recipe calls for only apples, but whenever possible I use at least half pears. After grating off the rind of the orange and lemon, I always grind them up too. Why let a good fruit go to waste?

The secret to really good Mincemeat is long, slow cooking and plenty of brandy and bourbon. You want to cook it until it is really thick. When you get ready to make a pie, you thin the mincemeat down with more brandy.

The scent of mincemeat cooking is heavenly–which is good as it takes most of an afternoon to make. Don’t leave the room for more than a minute as it will burn.

But the results are worth the time and effort. People who always pass on the Thanksgiving Mincemeat Pie will end up eating two slices. Also this is one of those things that you can safely save for a couple of years. I make it when we have a lot of extra pears and apples.

At Thanksgiving you can make your pie the day before and sit it aside. Also make up a Brandy or Rum Sauce–like the hot Lemon Sauce you serve with gingerbread. Late in the afternoon when you are finally ready for dessert, reheat the Brandy Sauce in the microwave to boiling, and pour over the room temperature pie. I like to reheat the pie somewhat too.

Green Tomato Mincemeat:

3 quarts green tomatoes
3 quarts apples, or better yet apples and pears mixed
1 cup ground suet
1 pound raisins
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
5 cups light brown sugar
¾ cup white vinegar
½ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons canning salt
1 cup brandy
½ cup bourbon

Put the tomatoes through a food grinder on a coarse chop. Peel and core apples and pears and put through the grinder. Repeat with the suet. Put the orange and lemon through the grinder after collecting the grated rinds.

Place all ingredients in a large enameled stock pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Stir frequently. Simmer for 2 ½ to 3 hours until dark and thick.

Pour into pint or quart hot sterilized jars. Will make about 8 pints. Each pint will make a regular pie.