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Mince Meat

A preserved fruit and meat mixture cooked slowly with spices and sweeteners.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mincemeat

  1. Mix all ingredients in the order given.

  2. Cook slowly in a preserving kettle for 1 hour, stirring often.

Finish

  1. Add the brandy and rose water after removing from the stove.

  2. For a variation, use cold tea instead of cider and brandy.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

  2. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds richness and a moist, tender texture as it melts during cooking.
Sour apples
Provide moisture, bulk, and a bright acidity that balances the sweetness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while deepening its flavour.
Molasses
Contributes dark colour, a deep caramel flavour, and extra moisture.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and body to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mincemeat.

The step that matters

Cook slowly, stirring often. Slow cooking softens the apples and fruit and evenly blends the sugars and liquids. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the kettle, which would give a burnt taste.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, apple, sugar, molasses, cider, orange, raisin):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, sugar, molasses, cider, orange, raisin. 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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