A 19th century recipe

2 lbs raisins
3 lbs currants
1½ lbs lean beef
3 lbs beef suet
2 lbs moist sugar
2 oz citron
2 oz candied lemon peel
2 oz candied orange peel
1 small nutmeg
1 pottle of apples
the rind of two lemons, the juice of one
1/2 pint brandy
Stone and cut the raisins once or twice across, but do not chop them; wash, dry and pick the currants free from stalks and grit, and mince the beef and suet, taking care the latter is chopped very fine; slice the citron and candied peel, grate the nutmeg, and pare, core and mince the apples; mince the lemon peel, strain the juice and when all the ingredients are thus prepared, mix them well together, adding the brandy when the other things are well blended; press the whole into a jar, carefully exclude the air, and the mincemeat will be ready for use in a fortnight.

Copied from the Wikipedia article on mincemeat.

Should have included the link. Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincemeat

go check out joepastry.com. He just did a huge week long write up followed by a great looking recipe for mincemeat at Christmas.

The Settlement Cookbook (1920) recipe has meat and whisky. The 1970 recipes are less tasty, but simpler.

1920
http://books.google.com/books?id=shNqwYSn7VsC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=SETTLEMENT+MINCEMEAT&source=bl

1970
http://books.google.com/books?id=gNYqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA349&lpg=PA349&dq=SETTLEMENT+MINCEMEAT&source=b

The RecipeWise website (in the UK) is an excellent source of historic recipes. Here's one for "Minst Pye" from 1624: http://recipewise.co.uk/minst-pyes-1624-recipe

Personally, when I think mincemeat, I think PA Dutch... Teri's Kitchen has a wonderful collection of recipes, including one for mincemeat pie.

My go-to source for questions like this is Saveur, and I happen to know that they have a meat-filled and meatless recipe:

http://www.saveur.com/solrSearchResults.jsp?q=mincemeat

Last Christmas I made Alton Brown's mincemeat pie which includes suet (basically beef fat) but used my own crust instead of his cornmeal piecrust-which just didn't sound right. It turned out really good.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/mincemeat-pie-recipe2/index.html

Also, the Two Hairy Bikers (hilarious British cooking/travel show) looks like they have a good one:

http://www.hairybikers.com/recipes/old-fashioned-sweet-mince-pies/1229

Be careful- there is a typo, there should be 8oz butter for the crust.

I don't have my grandmother's recipe on hand but it's made with apples, raisins, beef (or even better: venison), suet, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, zest. Hers comes out as a nice blend of both savory and sweet, I've never been a fan of really sweet mincemeat or versions with no meat at all.

http://lifeontheclothesline.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/grams-cookbook-page-16/

I haven't posted in a while, but I have a recipe straight out of the wedding cookbook of my great grandmother from 1917. I plan to start posting again soon, but as you can tell by reading my blog, things have been a bit crazy around here since September! Hope that this recipe helps!

The catering company we used at work shared some of their recipes in their Christmas newsletter, including a mincemeat recipe using beef suet http://www.heritageportfolio.co.uk/about_us/news_press/great-heritage-portfolio-christmas-bake-off/

I've not tried it but the food they serve in their cafes and at events is delicious, so it should hopefully be a good one!