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To Make Mincemeat for Pies

A savory mixture of boiled feet, apples, currants, raisins, sugar, suet, cider, brandy, spices, and pepper used as filling for pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Make Mincemeat for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil either calves' or hogs' feet until perfectly tender.

  2. Rub the boiled feet through a colander.

  3. When cold, pass them through the colander again until it comes out like pearl barley.

  4. Take one quart of the resulting mixture.

Make the mincemeat

  1. Add one quart of chopped apples.

  2. Add one quart of currants, washed and picked.

  3. Add one quart of raisins, stoned and cut.

  4. Add one quart of good brown sugar.

  5. Add one quart of suet, nicely chopped.

  6. Add one quart of cider and a pint of brandy.

  7. Add a teaspoonful of pounded mace.

  8. Add a teaspoonful of cloves.

  9. Add a teaspoonful of nutmegs.

  10. Mix all these together intimately.

  11. When the pies are to be made, take out as much of this mixture as may be necessary.

  12. To each quart of the mixture, add a teaspoonful of pounded black pepper.

  13. Add a teaspoonful of salt.

Assemble the pies

  1. Cover the moulds with paste.

  2. Put a sufficient amount of mince-meat into the moulds.

  3. Cover the top with thinly sliced citron.

  4. Lay a lid garnished around with paste cut into fanciful shapes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

13Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
3 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Brandynot in our table0
Macenot 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 Mary Randolph. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Brandy + clovetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,362 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Brandy + macetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,547 recipes

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they 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

Calves' or hogs' feet (in the method)
Their gelatin, once boiled and strained, gives the mixture a moist, cohesive body.
Suet (in the method)
Adds fat that enriches the filling and keeps it moist and rich.
Brown sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and a deep molasses flavour that balances the spices.
Apples (in the method)
Add tart moisture and body to the filling.
Raisins (in the method)
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and acts as a preservative in the mixture.

The step that matters

Mix all these together intimately. The spices, sugar, fat and fruit must be evenly distributed so every spoonful tastes and sets alike. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of strong spice or dry fruit in the pie.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, clove, pepper):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, clove, pepper. 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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