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A Mince Pie

A savory pie filled with boiled tongue, beef suet, apples, currants, raisins, spices, brandy, and candied citrus, topped with puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

A Mince Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil the neat's tongue for two hours, then skin and chop it finely.

  2. Chop the beef suet, apples, and stoned raisins very small.

  3. Wash and dry the currants thoroughly.

  4. Mix all chopped ingredients with powdered sugar, spices, and brandy.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill the pie with the mixture, adding small pieces of candied citron and orange as you go.

  2. Cover any leftover filling and store it for later use.

  3. Make a rich puff pastry and lid the pie, then bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the filling juicy and tender as it bakes.
Baking apples
Contribute moisture and a tart, fruity body that balances the sweetness.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the filling and dissolves evenly into the chopped ingredients.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour, and helps preserve the filling.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, sugar, mace, nutmeg, clove. 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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