This homemade minced meat recipe is my great, great Grandmother’s recipe. It may even be older than that! This recipe uses meat from boiled deer neck. You can use ground beef if that’s all you have. Honestly, all the minced meat I’ve ever had I think was all made with venison, as there are a lot of hunters in my family.

This post contains affiliate links. Read full disclosure here.

What is minced meat?

Minced meat is a sweet and savory dish, typically made with ground or minced beef, lamb or venison, fruits, spices, fat (usually suet) and sugar. Minced meat dates back to the 15th century, and probably before that. Wine was a common ingredient before brady was more widely used in the 20th century onward, although some recipes, like this one, omit the alcohol. Some mincemeats nowadays completely omit the meat, and the amount of sugar used in modern recipes has greatly increased. Minced meat is used in pies, tarts, cookies, bars, pinwheels and I’m sure more that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

I recommend making this in the Fall, if possible. That is ideal for two reasons: 1. If you hunt and you are lucky enough to tag out on a deer, you’ll have a fresh deer neck for this recipe. Or you may know someone else who tagged out that might let you have the deer neck in exchange for some finished minced meat or some other arrangement. 2. The apples will be in season, and you can go to your local orchard to load up on plenty of in season, local apples and probably get a better price than apples shipped halfway across the country on a truck.

You do not have to use venison.

As I mentioned, you can use ground beef. Or if you have your deer processed by a butcher you can just use ground venison. We process our own deer and use the neck meat. You can also roast the neck for BBQ sandwiches, or just to have as a roast with side dishes.

What if I don’t have suet?

If you don’t have suet, you can also use butter or bear fat instead. Venison is naturally a lean meat, so you want to be sure to add some fat to the minced meat.

What if I’m short on one of the spices called for?

No worries! If you are short on one of the spices, you can add more of another one to make up for it. Allspice could be used instead of one of the others too. You can pretty much make do with what you have on hand.

What if I don’t have a meat grinder?

You do not have to have a meat grinder for this recipe. You can finely chop and mince the meat and fruit by hand with a sharp knife, it will just take more time.

Use a heavy pot.

Because minced meat is thick and cooks for a couple of hours you want to make it in a heavy-bottomed pot to prevent sticking and burning. Also, be sure to stir often while it’s simmering.

Let’s make minced meat!

Cook the meat.

Boil or roast the deer neck. If boiling, cook it until the meat is tender and falling off the bones. You may want to save the broth and freeze it or can it like I did. If you are roasting it, roast in the oven put it in a roasting pan with a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan and bake covered at 300 F. Smaller neck roasts cook quicker. Start checking around 3 hours to see if the meat is tender and falling off the bones. Large neck roasts can take 5-6 hours. Alternatively, you can use a crockpot on Low for 6-8 hours.

Once the meat is cooked, pick it off the bones. Grind with a small grinding plate in a meat grinder or finely mince the meat by hand with a knife. Measure out 6 cups of ground/minced meat for the recipe.

closeup of meat grinder grinding deer meat

Slice the oranges and lemons. Remove the seeds. Grind or finely mince the slices, with the peelings.

Wash and quarter the apples. Slice into quarters or 8ths and remove the cores and seeds. You can also use an apple slicer that cores and peels the apples. The apples don’t have to be peeled. Grind or finely chop the apples.

Put the meat and fruit into a large, heavy stockpot. You want to use a heavy pot, so the minced meat doesn’t burn.

Add the spices, molasses, raisins and fat. Cook on low, stirring often. If the minced meat is too thick, add a little water or apple juice. If it is not tart enough to your taste, add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Salt to taste. Cook on low for a couple of hours, stirring often until everything is cooked well and combined nicely into minced meat filling.

spices, sugar, fruit and ground meat in large pot being stirred with a wooden spoon.

When it’s finished cooking,

Allow the minced meat to cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Keeps up to a week in the fridge or several months in the freezer.

To can the minced meat

While it is still hot from cooking, ladle hot minced meat into clean, hot jars (quarts or pints), leaving one inch headspace. Clean jar rims with a clean cloth or paper towel dampened with vinegar. Affix two-piece canning lids (that have been simmered in hot water) and tighten bands, but not too tightly. Process in pressure canner at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this Homemade Minced Meat Recipe. Happy cooking!

Yield: 6 quarts

Homemade Minced Meat Recipe

This homemade minced meat recipe is my great, great Grandmother's recipe! Made with wild deer, it's perfect for pies, tarts, cookies and more!

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 2 hours

Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

6 cups cooked ground meat
2 or 3 times as much apples
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
2 pkgs. seedless raisins
2 Tablespoons each of cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.
salt to taste (optional)
2 lemons, 2 oranges
1/2 cup molasses
vinegar to taste
About half pound of butter or fat, such as suet, plus fat from meat

Instructions

1. If using deer neck, boil or roast until meat falls off the bones. Pick meat off bones and grind or mince 6 cups of cooked meat.

2. Slice citrus into wedges, remove seeds. Grind or finely mince.

3. Slice apples. Remove seeds and cores. Grind or finely mince.

4. In a large, heavy pot, add meat, citrus and apples. Add raisins, spices, butter, fat and molasses.

5. Cook on low for a couple of hours, stirring often, and adding water or apple juice as needed if mixture gets too thick. Taste and add any salt if needed, and/or a splash of vinegar for tartness.

6. When minced meat has finished cooking, allow to cool before freezing or storing in refrigerator. Or if canning, ladle hot minced meat into clean, hot quart or pint jars, leaving 1 in. headspace. Wipe rims with clean towels dipped in vinegar. Affix two-piece lids and tighten bands. Process in pressure canner at 10lbs pressure for 90 minutes for both pints and quarts.

~Shop This Post~

Meat Your Maker .5 HP Meat Grinder