W.A. Bean Mincemeat Tart with Beef Suet Crust

As part of my order from W.A. Bean and Sons, I got a quart jar of true mincemeat, the kind with the meat. Picture below shows it.

That plus having suet on hand made a mincemeat Christmas pie inevitable. But for the two of us, a tart would be plenty. So, that's what I did. Since the filling came form a jar, the only real cooking I did was to make up a crust recipe based on that in the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking pasties recipe. So I give the real recipe credit to the Beans.

W.A. Bean Mincemeat Tart with Beef Suet Crust
(makes one 7" tart)
2/3 cup (83 g) flour
1/8 tsp (1 g) salt
1/8 tsp (.77 g) baking powder
shy 1/2 cup (91 g) beef suet, ground twice and then chilled
2 Tbsp (23 g) lard or shortening
cold water
1 c (243g) mincemeat (the real kind with meat; I used W.A. Bean and Sons')

Make the crust: In a food processor, whirl the dry ingredients to mix. Add the suet and lard or shortening and pulse repeatedly until the particles are fine. Turn out into a bowl. Add just enough cold water, one tablespoon at a time, to make a stiff pie crust consistency. Press into a 1" disk, wrap in plastic, and chill 30 minutes or more.

Remove from fridge and unwrap. At this point you can start preheating the oven to 450F. Divide disk in half. Roll out one half about 1/4" thick and line the tart pan, being sure there is enough of a rim to bind it to the top crust. Fill the crust with mincemeat. Picture above shows it at this stage.

Roll out the top crust. Brush cold water all around the rim of the bottom crust and put the top crust on, pinching closed gently but firmly with your fingers or a fork. Poke or cut holes in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Pictue above shows me using an aspic cutter to make vents.
Bake 20 - 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the edges nicely browned, using a pie drip pan or a pan placed on the rack below to catch any overflow. Picture below shows it just out of the oven.

Cooking Notes: Having the filling on hand made this a snap. I'm not at all apologetic about using canned mincemeat, since making mincemeat is a traditional meat preservation method that would have been historically appropriate.
When I went to cut the holes in the top, I looked through my tin of aspic cutters and found one shaped like an ornament, and one shaped like a star. This made me very happy. I didn't want to waste any of the pastry, so rather than discard the cut-outs, I pushed them into the pie. I also could have pasted them to the top by moistening one side and sticking them on.
I read someplace that mincemeat is a dry filling and I wouldn't need a drip pan, so I didn't bother to use one. The lingering smell of smoke and sting in my eyes says that this was a really bad idea. I had to remove the tart halfway through, let the oven burn off the burnable grossness, and then put the tart back (this time with two drip catchers, just in case) to finish.

Eating Notes: Despite having a twice-cooked pie, this was a great success. The crust was perfect - crunchy and flavorful. The filling was excellent and definitely worth ordering. It was evenly savory and sweet and had a good textural balance (and not too many raisins). We ate it at room temperature for Christmas dinner and then warmed slightly the next morning for breakfast. I preferred it warm, as at room temperature I think the tallow solidified and lent a slightly waxy texture (Phil didn't taste it); warming it melted the fats just enough to eliminate the waxy mouthfeel for me. I have leftover mincemeat. Wikipedia claims mincemeat lasts up to ten years; in my kitchen, I suspect it will be gone much sooner than that.