Oxford SlowFoodStudent

You'll need to find a good hour for this on one day, and then a chunk of time on the following one, for this recipe. It's actually very easy, though.

1. Mix the following together in a big - and I mean b i g bowl: 230g currants, 230g sultanas, 230g raisins; 200g shredded suet,;400g soft brown sugar; two large Bramley apples, finely chopped; zest and juice 2 lemons, or 1 lemon and 1 orange; 50g almonds (peeled and chopped/slivered); 1tsp each of allspice, ground nutmeg and ground cinammon.

2. Cover and leave for 12 hours (e.g. overnight), mixing whenever you can/want to.

3. Mix in a few (and I mean a good few...) tablespoons/bottles of brandy, rum or some such, as well as some wine/stout or any other sugar-rich booze. To stop the whole lot fermenting (and to melt the suet into the fruit) put it in a low oven (about 120C) for three hours.

4. Put into nice, clean jars and then leave for a month or so.

NOTES:

1. Suet? YES! Buy it at the butchers (although, if you're nice and buy it with something else, he'll probably give it you for free...). It gives your mincemeat that moist fattiness and richness that really makes it special. It also gives you those extra pounds around the waist that Christmas just wouldn't be complete without...

2. Dried fruits: any kind. Currants & Co are the most traditional, but why not adulterate with dates or approxi-cot with apri-mates (Hmm. Think something went awry there...). Same goes for nuts: why not 'go nuts' with something else except almonds?

3. Booze: very important. Very. Port works nicely, too (and in some colleges, it's the only thing to do with the stuff).