Mincemeat pie is fairly uncommon in the United States these days. There was a time when many holiday tables would have been incomplete without the traditional favorite that crossed the ocean with our English forebearers, who buy 73 million mince pies each December. But mince pie, which rarely contains meat in its modern form, has a dramatic history.

Five hundred years ago in England, making mincemeat began as a method of preserving food without salt or smoke. Finely ground boiled mutton, pork, rabbit, or other game was combined with sugar, dried fruits and spices and baked into large, sturdy pies to be shared or stored for a month or two. The mincemeat itself could be kept for even longer in cool, dry places. By the fourteenth century, a recipe for mincemeat pie called “The Tarts of Flesh” had made its way into one of the oldest known English cookbooks, “The…