According to an informal survey of my nearest and occasionally dearest, many younger Britons believe that they don’t like mince pies. It’s a claim that I always counter annoyingly with: “No, you just haven’t had a good one”, before forcing a homemade version, all crumbly, buttery pastry and plump currants, in their faces. To be fair to them, though, mince pies are baked so firmly into our festive tradition that some retailers seem to take sales for granted, and concentrate on price and shelf life rather than quality. (Which isn’t to say I won’t force down a fair few over the festive season.)
That, at least, is the only excuse for the pappy pastry and unpleasantly sour gloopy filling that has marred so many Christmases past for me, but I come into this taste test determined to see the positives, mostly because I don’t want my fellow taster, the deliciously upbeat professional baker Benjamina Ebuehi, to think I’m a grinch.
