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Mince Pie with Meat I

A sweet and savory meat pie with apples, fruit, sugar, wine, and spices baked in shortcrust pastry.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Mince Pie with Meat I

15–20
Oven150 °C (300 °F)

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Sear diced beef in a pan until well-coloured, then set it aside until cool.

  2. Combine all ingredients except dough in a bowl and mix the combined ingredients well.

Make the pie shells

  1. Line 3 deep, greased pie pans (or 5 greased muffin pans) with pastry dough to create pie shells.

  2. Place the pie shells into the oven and set to 150 °C (300 °F).

  3. Bake the shells until lightly golden.

  4. Remove the shells from the oven and let rest until cooled.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the pie shells with the filling mixture until level or slightly mounded above the rim.

  2. Trim any excess pastry from the tops.

  3. Bake the filled pies at 150 °C (300 °F) for 45 minutes per tray (or 35 minutes per muffin tray).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

830Calories
28 gProtein
54 gFat
54 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 14 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Fruitnot in our table0
Cidernot in our table0
Citrusnot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Pastrynot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Apple + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Wine + cidertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the meaty bulk of the filling, and searing first builds browned, savoury flavour.
Butter, lard, or vegetable shortening
Adds fat that coats the filling and gives it a rich, moist texture.
White granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the filling and give it body.
Fruit mix
Supplies most of the fruity sweetness and aroma in the filling.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness and bulk to the filling.
Wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Sear the beef until well-coloured. Browning meat through the Maillard reaction builds deep, savoury flavour that a pale, steamed piece of beef cannot give the finished filling.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, sugar, apple, wine, cider, orange):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, sugar, apple, wine, cider, orange. 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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