What’s cooking today: Karoo Krismis mince

Using sheep’s fat was a bit of a gamble but I had a hunch that it would work, and it surely did. Sheep’s tail or flank fat can be rendered at home, slowly on a low heat for a long time, and then strained if you like. Mine still had some tiny kaiings (bits of crackling) in it, which I don’t see as being a problem, so they’re in the mince that is now in jars in the fridge. It only lends even more character. Otherwise use suet, which is the fat around the loins and kidneys of sheep; a good butcher should be able to oblige.

Ingredients

2 apples, cored and chopped finely

250 g raisins

250 g sultanas

250 g currants

100 g mixed peel

50 g walnuts, very finely chopped

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp kapokbos leaves, including some blossoms

250 g dark brown sugar

50 ml Klipdrift brandy

50 ml Omstaan XI white muscadel

100 ml persievet (rendered sheep’s fat, or use suet)

Method

Mix everything except the brandy and muscadel in an ovenproof bowl, very well. Cover and leave to macerate overnight, refrigerated.

Heat the oven to 120℃. Cover the bowl with foil, loosely, and put it in the warm oven for three hours.

Leave it to cool, and stir it every 15 minutes. Once it has reached room temperature, stir in the brandy and muscadel, and refrigerate.

Once cold, spoon into sterilised jars, right up to the brim, and put sterilised lids on.

It can be refrigerated for several weeks and considerably longer; some say “indefinitely”. DM/TGIFood

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