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Mince Meat

A savory mixture of finely chopped beef tongue with dried fruit, suet, spices, and fortified wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the beef tongue in salted water until tender, then chop it finely.

Mix

  1. Combine the chopped tongue, raisins, currants, suet, figs, apples, almonds, orange peel, citron, sugar, brandy, sherry, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice in a large bowl.

  2. Use a meat grinder to mix the ingredients thoroughly for a finer texture.

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Fig + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Fig + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together238 recipes

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

  4. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 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 tongue
Provides the meaty base, becoming tender after boiling and then finely chopped.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the mixture moist and rounds out the flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and alcohol that helps preserve the mixture.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Use a meat grinder to mix the ingredients thoroughly for a finer texture.. Grinding breaks the dried fruit, suet and tongue into small, even pieces so the flavours blend and the texture stays uniform. Overworking can turn the mixture pasty, so stop once it is evenly combined.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, fig, apple, almond, orange, sugar. 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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