mincemeat

"We'll make mincemeat of the girl and hash of the chicken and sausage of the dog!"

Leaving the sexton at the horse's bridle, he drew out the chaise with his own hands, and would have harnessed the horses, but that the post-boy of the village--a soft-hearted, good-for-nothing, vagabond kind of fellow--was moved by his earnestness and passion, and, throwing down a pitchfork with which he was armed, swore that the rioters might cut him into mincemeat if they liked, but he would not stand by and see an honest gentleman who had done no wrong, reduced to such extremity, without doing what he could to help him.

I stole some bread, some rind of cheese, about half a jar of mincemeat (which I tied up in my pocket-handkerchief with my last night's slice), some brandy from a stone bottle (which I decanted into a glass bottle I had secretly used for making that intoxicating fluid, Spanish-liquorice-water, up in my room: diluting the stone bottle from a jug in the kitchen cupboard), a meat bone with very little on it, and a beautiful round compact pork pie.

Great Continental Railway Journeys, BBC Four, 7.30pm Operation Mincemeat BBC4, 9pm How Britain deceived Hitler into thinking the Allies were planning to invade Greece in 1943, allowing them to land in Sicily - their real target - with minimal resistance.

I can clearly remember going into the cellar--tiptoeing as quietly as possible down those creaky stairs, illuminated by one dim overhead bulb--just to get a jar of green tomato mincemeat. I even remember watching out for the bogeyman during my sneaky missions, fearing that he would pop out at any second!

My daughter Sienna took inspiration from her favourite festive treat - mince pies and custard - for this mincemeat and custard cupcake with snowflake decoration.

Fold in the mincemeat and transfer the batter into the prepared pan.

She showed us four items; a luxury mincemeat used to make a mincemeat bakewell tart with a sweet pastry, stuffed butternut squash, and a chicken curry.

INGREDIENTS 1 large jar mincemeat (about 600g) 2 satsumas, segmented 1 apple, finely chopped Zest 1 lemon Little icing sugar, for dusting For the pastry: 375g plain flour 260g unsalted butter, softened 125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 1 large egg, plus 1 beaten egg for glazing Paul Hollywood METHOD 1.

For a homemade festive treat, give the Great British Bake Off judge's recipe a go INGREDIENTS 1 large jar mincemeat (about 600g) 2 satsumas, segmented 1 apple, finely chopped Zest 1 lemon Little icing sugar, for dusting For the pastry: 375g plain flour 260g unsalted butter, softened 125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 1 large egg, plus 1 beaten egg for glazing Paul METHOD 1.

Pastry is crumbly and thick, but there is too much of it, and it overpowers the mincemeat, which has no distinct flavour and could do with an alcohol lift.

2 While the pastry is resting, prepare the mincemeat by placing all the ingredients, except the brandy, in a large pan.