Skip to main content
Main

Mince Meat

A preserved mixture of finely chopped beef, apples, suet, raisins, currants, citron, sugar, lemon, spices, and boiled cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

Prepare

  1. Mix the chopped beef, apples, suet, raisins, currants, citron, brown sugar, lemon juice and rind, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in a large bowl.

  2. Add enough boiled cider to make the mixture spread easily.

Cook

  1. Transfer the mixture to a preserving kettle and cook over low heat until the apples are soft and the mixture has a rich taste.

  2. If the mixture is not sweet enough, add more sugar.

Store

  1. Pack the cooked mixture closely in jars and store in a cool place for winter 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. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tender beef
Provides the meaty base and body that gives the mincemeat its traditional texture.
Apples
Soften during slow cooking to add moisture and a fruity tartness.
Leaf suet
Adds fat that enriches the mixture and gives it a smooth, moist mouthfeel.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while adding depth of flavour.
Raisins
Contribute concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they soften.
Boiled cider
Adds concentrated apple acidity and sweetness and makes the mixture spreadable.

The step that matters

Cooking over low heat until the apples are soft. Gentle, slow heat lets the apples soften and the flavours blend without scorching the sugars and fats. Scorching would leave a bitter taste, and the mixture needs enough cooking to be stable for storage.

Swap the currant

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

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

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

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipes