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Imperial Mince Meat

A spiced beef and fruit mixture used for pies, containing raisins, currants, citron, sugar, spices, wine, brandy, and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Imperial Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mincemeat

  1. Chop the beef finely, removing all skin and gristle.

  2. Mince the suet and mix it with the beef.

  3. Add the raisins, currants, citron, brown sugar, lemon juice, grated rinds, nutmeg, salt, ginger, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. Mix well.

  4. Pour the wine and brandy over the mixture and combine thoroughly.

  5. Pack the mixture into small jars and store in a cool place.

Make and bake the pies

  1. To make pies, line pie plates with crust.

  2. Mix 1 pint of the mince meat with 1 pint of chopped tart apples and the rose water.

  3. Fill the crust half full, add bits of butter, and nearly fill with the meat mixture.

  4. Cover with puff pastry, cut a slit in the middle, and bake until golden.

  5. Warm before serving.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the bulk and meaty body of the mincemeat filling.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and tender.
Raisins
Supply sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while it stores.
Wine and brandy
Add liquid and alcohol that moisten the mixture and help it keep.
Tart apples
Add acidity and moisture to the pie filling.

The step that matters

Packing the pie filling. Filling the crust only half full before adding the meat mixture lets the filling settle without overflowing or leaving the crust underfilled. Leaving room under the pastry lid helps the filling heat through and the top bake evenly.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, lemon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice. 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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