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Mince Meat

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a deep pan or mug with a well-fitting lid, mix together the Demerara sugar, Sultana raisins, Valencia raisins, black currants, beef suet, chopped apples, candied citron peel, lemon skins, lemon juice, grated nutmegs, salt, rum, and brandy.

  2. Ensure all ingredients are well combined.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Black currant + appletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Black currant + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Apple + rumtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together214 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the black currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, raisin, beef, apple, lemon, nutmeg, rum):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Black currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, beef, apple, lemon, nutmeg, rum. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

More fruit mince recipes

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