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Mince Meat

A mixture of minced meat, apples, molasses, cider, and spices, stored for later use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the chopped meat and apples in a large bowl.

  2. Add molasses, vinegar, cider, suet, raisins, and citron.

  3. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, black pepper, nutmegs, and the juice and rind of the lemons. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

Store

  1. Store in a cool place until ready to 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. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Vinegar + cidertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped meat
Provides the bulk and savory body of the mincemeat.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness and body to the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a rich, deep flavor.
Suet
Adds fat that gives a rich, moist texture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Plumfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, molasses, vinegar, cider, sugar, cinnamon. 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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