I’ve come across a lot of strange dishes since starting this project, but today’s recipe gave me pause when I first saw the ingredients list. Ice cream mince pie, according to the Better Homes & Gardens Dessert Cook Book from 1960, contains one quart of vanilla ice cream, one graham cracker crust, and one cup of well-drained mincemeat. At first I wondered if maybe I had misread the text—many of the recipes printed alongside it are dated, to be sure, but they still fall clearly within the sweets category. The addition of meat, in my opinion, is one boundary a dessert should never cross.
But the more research I did into the dish, the less disturbing it became. As my readers who are already familiar with the ingredient will know, mincemeat is thankfully vegetarian—at least the version I hope was intended for this ice cream pie is.
Mincemeat or “mince” pies date back to at least the Middle Ages. They may have made their way from Europe via the Middle East during the Crusades, and there they became a popular treat at Christmastime. They were associated with special occasions; King Henry V even had the dish served at his coronation in the early 15th century.
The original mincemeat pies did contain actual meat, with mutton, beef, pork, rabbit, and wild fowl all being common choices. After chopping the meat, cooks would mix it with alcohol, dried fruits, and spices. In addition to flavoring the filling, these ingredients helped preserve the meat, which would have been invaluable in an era prior to refrigeration. The result was a hearty pastry that straddled the line between dinner and dessert.
Over the centuries, meat has been phased out of mincemeat while the ingredients originally added for preservation have become the main attraction. As Western cuisine evolved, the line between sweet and savory items became more pronounced. By the early 20th century, it was typical for mincemeat to consist of mostly dried fruits and spices, with the only meat content being suet, or beef fat. The invention of Crisco in 1911 allowed for mincemeat that was 100 percent vegetarian. Cane sugar had also became more widely accessible by this time, and with added sugar mincemeat pie made the full transition into the dessert world.
Though these types of fruit pies are also called “mince”, the term “mincemeat” never went away. This can lead to shock and horror when people like me find a recipe calling for mincemeat combined with vanilla ice cream. To make matters more confusing, mincemeat made with actual meat does still exist—though it’s much less common than it was in Medieval Europe. That means it’s possible someone saw this recipe from 1960 and made it with the meaty-kind of mincemeat without knowing any better. If you decide to make this at home, allow me to speak on behalf of the original recipe writer and implore you not to add mutton to your ice cream pie.
Ice-cream Mince Pie
1 quart vanilla ice cream
1 cup well-drained mincemeat
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon rum flavoring
1 recipe Graham-cracker Crust
Stir ice cream to soften; stir in mincemeat and flavoring. Spoon into Graham-cracker Crust. Freeze firm.
Graham-cracker Crust: Combine 1/2 cups fine graham-cracker crumbs (18 crackers), 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine; mix well. Press firmly in unbuttered 9-inch pie plate. Chill until set, about 45 minutes, before filling.
Great research!
Suspending my disbelief, here: did you make this?