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Mince Meat

A fruit and spice mixture of beef, suet, apples, currants, raisins, citron, and spices, used as a pie filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mince

  1. Combine the chopped beef, beef suet, green apples, currants, raisins, citron, and brown sugar in a large bowl.

  2. Add the spices, brandy, sherry wine, and lemon juice and rind, then mix well.

  3. Scald the mixture and pack it into a jar.

Use

  1. If the mixture is too dry when baking pies, thin it with sweetened sherry or sweet cider.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks and stores.
Green apples
Provides moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness of the sugar and dried fruit.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while it stands.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Lean beef
Provides savory meaty body and structure to the filling.

The step that matters

Scald the mixture before packing. Heating the mixture helps reduce the risk of spoilage when it is stored in a jar, so it should be heated thoroughly before packing.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, 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 mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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