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Dessert

Green Tomato Mincemeat

A preserved mixture of green tomatoes, sugar, raisins, citron, suet, and spices, cooked until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Chop the green tomatoes finely and drain off the juice.

  2. Cover the tomatoes with cold water and boil for thirty minutes.

  3. Drain the tomatoes and par-boil them three times.

Make the mincemeat

  1. Add the brown sugar, raisins, citron, suet, salt, and strong vinegar to the tomatoes. Mix and cook until thick.

  2. When the mixture is cold, add the cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

161Calories
2 gProtein
2 gFat
38 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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 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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 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. 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

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the mincemeat and give it its body once chopped and cooked down.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the mixture thicken as it cooks.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Suet
Adds richness and fat, giving the mincemeat a smooth, moist mouthfeel.
Strong vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps keep the mixture balanced.

The step that matters

Cooking until thick. Cooking the mixture long enough drives off excess water so it sets to a spoonable thickness. Undercooked mincemeat stays runny and can spoil sooner in storage.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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