mincemeat

thumb|right|Mince pie filled with mincemeat

Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped apples and dried fruit, distilled spirits or vinegar, spices, and optionally, meat and beef suet. Mincemeat is usually used as a pie or pastry filling. Traditional mincemeat recipes contain meat, notably beef or venison, as this was a way of preserving meat prior to modern preservation methods. Modern recipes often replace the suet with vegetable shortening or other oils (e.g., coconut oil) and/or omit the meat. However, many people continue to prepare and serve the traditional meat-based mincemeat for holidays.