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Mince Pie

A savory pie made with beef, suet, sugar, dried fruit, spices, citrus, and wine, baked in stone jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mince Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat and fruit

  1. Boil the beef until very well done, then chop it finely.

  2. Chop the suet and apples, and add them to the beef.

Make the liquid and dry parts

  1. Mix the brown sugar, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves, then add the Madeira wine, brandy, lemon juice, and orange juice.

  2. Combine the raisins, currants, citron, and lemon and orange rinds.

Combine and store

  1. Gradually mix all three sets of ingredients, adding salt to the liquid part.

  2. Pack the mixture into stone jars, cover closely, and store in a dry, cool place.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Nutmeg + lemontop 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. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef tenderloin tongue
Forms the bulk and savory body of the mincemeat once boiled and finely chopped.
Suet
Adds fat for richness and a moist, tender texture throughout the mixture.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and moisture, and helps balance the acidity of the citrus.
Apples
Contribute moisture and a tart freshness that lightens the rich, dense mixture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and, as a spirit, helps keep the mixture stable in storage.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Gradually mixing the three sets of ingredients. Adding the liquids slowly and mixing thoroughly lets the sugar, fat and spirits spread evenly through the meat and fruit, so no part of the mixture ends up soggy or dry.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

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