The 25 Strangest days of Christmas Day 14 - Meat in my Pie?

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Strange History podcast and

0:03 Speaker 1: day fourteen of our Victorian Christmas countdown the twenty five

0:07 Speaker 1: Strangest Days of Christmas. Mince Pies today are sweet treats, raisins, spices,

0:13 Speaker 1: maybe brandy, But in the early Victorian era, mince pies

0:17 Speaker 1: still contained meat, specifically beef, sweet dried fruits, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon.

0:25 Speaker 1: This was thought to represent the vastness of the world,

0:28 Speaker 1: spices from abroad, domestic meat from home, sweetness from the

0:32 Speaker 1: holiday spirit. But the pies weren't small then. They were huge,

0:36 Speaker 1: family sized, dense enough to weaponize. A butcher from Yorkshire

0:41 Speaker 1: advertised a Christmas mince pie that weighed one hundred and

0:44 Speaker 1: eight pounds and required four strong men in a wheelbarrow

0:47 Speaker 1: to deliver. Imagine rolling your dinner into place like sacred treasure.

0:52 Speaker 2: This episode is brought to you by Pie Dolly Rolling

0:55 Speaker 2: Trays for when your dessert has the mass of a

0:58 Speaker 2: small celestial object. Pie Dolly bake boldly, transport safely.

1:06 Speaker 1: And now we place something inside the pudding and hope

1:10 Speaker 1: no one breaks a tooth. Tune in tomorrow to see

1:13 Speaker 1: exactly what that means.