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Dessert

English Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef or tongue, suet, currants, raisins, apples, lemon, spices, brandy, and wine, used for mince pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

English Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beef or tongue, suet, currants, raisins, apples, lemon juice and peel, nutmeg, cloves, mace, pimento, brandy, and wine. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a deep jar and cover it tightly.

  3. Store in a dry, cool place.

Use

  1. For mince pies, add some citron, orange, and lemon peel when making the pies.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

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

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

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling moist and tender.
Currants
Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the filling.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy body, balancing the spices and brandy.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that brightens the rich, sweet filling.
Beef or tongue
Adds savory meat flavor and body to the traditional mincemeat.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture during long storage.

The step that matters

Cover the jar tightly and store in a cool, dry place. Sealing limits air and moisture exposure, while cool, dry storage slows spoilage and lets the spices and liquors mellow the flavors over time.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Currantthe original

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

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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