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Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef, suet, raisins, apples, spices, and sweet liquids, boiled and packed in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Take five or six pounds scraggy beef — a neck piece will do, and put to boil in water enough to cover it, take off the scum that rises when it comes to a boil.

  2. Add hot water from time to time until it is tender, remove the lid from the pot, salt, let boil till almost dry turning the meat over occasionally in the liquor, take from the fire and let stand overnight to get thoroughly cold.

Prepare the fruit and spices

  1. Pick bones, gristle or stringy bits from the meat, chop very fine, mincing at the same time three pounds of nice beef suet.

  2. Seed and cut four pounds raisins, ash and dry four of currants, slice, thin one of citron, chop fine four quarts tart, good cooking apples.

  3. Put into a large pan together, add two ounces cinnamon, one ounce cloves, one ounce ginger, four nutmegs, the juice and grated rinds of two lemons, one tablespoon salt, one teaspoon pepper, and two pounds sugar.

Make and pack the mince

  1. Put in a porcelain kettle one quart boiled cider, or better still one quart currant or grape juice, (canned when grapes are turning from green to purple), one quart nice molasses or syrup, and if you have any syrup left from sweet pickles, add some of that, also a good lump of butter.

  2. Let it come to a boil and pour over the ingredients in the pan after first mixing well, then mix again thoroughly.

  3. Pack in jars and put in a cool place, and when cold, pour molasses over the top, cover tightly and it will keep two months.

  4. In baking take some out of a crock and if it is not moist enough add a little hot water, and strew a few whole raisins over each pie. Instead of boiled beef a beef's heart or roast meat may be used.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

452Calories
28 gProtein
16 gFat
53 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cidernot in our table0
Currantnot 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.

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Cooked until tender, then chopped, it forms the meaty body of the mince.
Beef suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the mince moist and mellow.
Raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Apples (in the method)
Add tartness and moisture that balances the sugar and molasses.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and depth of flavour, and helps preserve the mince.

The step that matters

Let the beef cook until almost dry, then cool it fully. Boiling down drives off excess liquid so the mince does not spoil, and chilling overnight firms the meat so it chops cleanly and fine.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cinnamon, clove, ginger, pepper, sugar, cider):

  1. Applefits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cinnamon, clove, ginger, pepper, sugar, cider. 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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