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Mince Meat

A sweet meat mixture of chopped meat, apples, cider, molasses, raisins, sugar, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,773 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine two quarts chopped meat, four quarts apple, two quarts sweet cider, one quart molasses, four teacups sugar, two tablespoonfuls salt, two teaspoons pepper, seven teaspoons each of cinnamon and cloves, four nutmegs, and two pounds raisins, and mix well.

  2. Cook for two hours.

  3. Add one pint sweet cider.

  4. When making your mince meat, put in a few quinces, finely chopped.

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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Meat + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,773 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Apple + cidertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Cinnamon + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,390 recipes

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

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped meat
Forms the bulk of the filling and gives it its savoury body.
Apple
Adds moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a deep flavour to the mixture.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they soften during cooking.

Flavor stand-ins for the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, apple, cider, molasses, pepper, cinnamon, sugar):

  1. Figbetter flavor fit
  2. Grapebetter flavor fit
  3. Pearabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, apple, cider, molasses, pepper, cinnamon, sugar. 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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