Name: Homemade Mincemeat I
Ingredients: 6 green tomatoes, chopped; 6 tart apples, chopped; 1 cup currants; 1 cup raisins; 3 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp ground cloves; 1/2 tsp allspice; 1/2 tsp ground ginger; 1/4 cup vinegar; 1 tbsp grated orange peel; 1/2 cup unsweetened orange juice

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,027 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together14,027 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together7,711 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,171 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

Green tomatoes: Supply bulk and moisture, and their tartness helps balance the sweet dried fruit.
Apples: Add pectin and body, helping the filling thicken and hold together as it cooks.
Currants: Add concentrated sweetness and small chewy bits of texture.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture, and soften as they absorb moisture during simmering.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and sharpens the sweet fruit.

The step that matters

Simmer until thick. As water evaporates, the fruit's pulp and pectin thicken the mixture. Stopping too early leaves it runny, and cooking too long in a heavy pot can scorch the bottom and dry it out.

Flavor stand-ins for the tomato

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

Carrotbetter flavor fit
Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, currant, raisin, cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.

Homemade Mincemeat I

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions