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Minoe Meat

Minoe Meat is a preserved meat mixture of beef, dried fruit, suet, spices, and alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace 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 ↓

Minoe Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil and chop the beef finely.

  2. Mix the chopped beef with raisins, currants, suet, citron, brown sugar, and apples.

Season and combine

  1. Add the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, nutmeg, mace, and cloves.

  2. Stir in the wine and brandy (or rum or whiskey).

  3. Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Store

  1. Store in a 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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 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
Provides savoury body and bulk through the chopped meat texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich in texture.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the sugar.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Wine
Adds liquid and acidity, carrying the flavours through the mixture.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that aids preservation and gives a warming aroma.

The step that matters

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Even distribution of the liquids, fat and spices keeps every portion evenly flavoured and moist, so no spot is dry or overly strong.

Swap the mace

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

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

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

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