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Mincemeat

A preserved mixture of apples, beef, raisins, spices, and molasses used as a Christmas filling.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Mincemeat

Timeup to an hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat and stock

  1. Cube meat.

  2. Cover meat with water and simmer until tender, up to an hour.

  3. Remove meat from the pot.

  4. Cook the stock down to the needed amount, or thicken slightly with cornstarch.

  5. Run the meat through a food mill (medium or coarse blade), or grind to an equivalent fineness in a food processor.

Prepare the fruit and lemon

  1. Core apples, remove seeds, and do not peel.

  2. Grind the apples with a coarse blade, not too fine.

  3. Cut the lemon in half and remove the seeds.

  4. Purée the whole lemon, rind and all, with some of the liquid ingredients, or process as finely as possible in a food processor.

Combine and cook

  1. Combine the apples, meat, and raisins in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.

  2. Add the sugar, spices, liquids, and lemon purée to the meat and apples.

  3. Use hot meat stock to rinse the remaining molasses into the mixture.

  4. Stir thoroughly.

  5. Cook slowly, uncovered, stirring often until the mixture is pasteurized and enough of the liquids have evaporated to produce the desired texture and thickness.

  6. Let the mixture cool.

  7. Stir in the ground pepper.

  8. Refrigerate, allowing the spices to mellow for several weeks.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

583Calories
28 gProtein
17 gFat
85 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 18 ingredients. The other 6 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Black Raisin1 small box (28g)85
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Stewnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Coffeenot in our table0
Cidernot in our table0
Meatnot in our table0
Sorghumnot 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Baldwin apples
Provide the bulk of the body and tartness, and their pectin helps the mixture thicken as it cooks.
Stew beef
Adds savory richness and body, as the meat is cooked, ground fine and folded into the mixture.
Sorghum molasses or regular molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark colour and a robust flavour that deepens during long cooking.
Sugar
Sweetens the mincemeat and helps preserve it along with the cooking and cooling.
Seedless black raisins
Add concentrated sweetness, chewy texture and moisture to the filling.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, rich flavours and helps preserve the mixture.

The step that matters

Cook slowly, uncovered, stirring often. Long, gentle cooking drives off liquid so the mixture reaches the right thickness and becomes safely pasteurized. Stirring prevents scorching on the heavy-bottomed pot's base, where sugars can burn.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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

More mincemeat recipes

Mock Pie 26Pie 21Lemon 15Fritters 14Green Tomato 13Pies 13 See all 120 →

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