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Mince Pie

A savory pie filling made from boiled beef, apples, raisins, spices, and sweetened with cider or vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the beef until very tender and the liquid is nearly reduced.

  2. Chop the beef finely, removing all fibers.

Make the filling

  1. Combine the chopped beef with apples, raisins, spices, salt, and pepper.

  2. Moisten the mixture with sweet boiled cider or a mix of vinegar and water.

  3. Add lemon if desired.

  4. Boil all ingredients together and can for later 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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty body of the filling and becomes tender when boiled and finely chopped.
Suet
Adds richness and a moist, fatty texture to the filling.
Apple
Adds moisture, tartness and body that balances the sweetness of the filling.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture to the filling.
Sweet boiled cider
Moistens the mixture and adds sweetness and fruity flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the beef until very tender. Beef left tough will stay chewy in the finished filling. Simmering until the fibers relax and the liquid nearly reduces gives a tender, concentrated meat that chops easily and keeps the filling from drying out.

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, meat, raisin, pepper, cider):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, meat, raisin, pepper, cider. 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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