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Dessert

Mincemeat

A preserved mixture of beef, suet, dried fruit, spices, and brandy, aged for two weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Mincemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Chop the beef and suet finely and place in a large pan.

  2. Add the spices to the meat and suet mixture.

  3. Incorporate the currants, raisins, apples, and candied peels.

Combine and mature

  1. Gradually mix in the sugar, lemon juice, grated lemon peel, and brandy.

  2. Stir well with a wooden spoon every other day for two weeks.

  3. Keep the pan covered in a cool place until ready to use.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds fat and richness, and keeps the mixture moist as it matures.
Brandy
Adds liquid and aroma, and helps preserve the mixture during long storage.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness, and body to the filling.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring every other day for two weeks. Regular stirring distributes the liquid and fat evenly through the fruit and spices, so the mixture matures uniformly rather than separating or spoiling in patches.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cranberryfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, sugar, orange, lemon, nutmeg. 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.

More mincemeat recipes

Mock Pie 26Pie 21Lemon 15Fritters 14Green Tomato 13Pies 13 See all 120 →

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