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Dessert

Mince Meat

A spiced mixture of boiled beef, suet, dried fruit, apples, citron, spices, sugar, and rum or brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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

  1. Combine the chopped beef and suet in a large bowl.

  2. Add the raisins, currants, chopped apples, and citron.

  3. Grate the nutmeg and add it along with the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace, and salt.

  4. Stir in the brown sugar until well mixed.

  5. Pour in the rum or brandy and mix thoroughly.

  6. 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 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

Boiled beef
Provides the meaty body and richness that defines traditional mincemeat.
Suet
Adds fat that gives the filling a moist, rich texture.
Raisins
Contribute concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps preserve the mixture.
Rum or brandy
Acts as a preservative and adds aroma to the mixture.
Chopped apples
Add moisture and tartness that balances the sweetness.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice. 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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