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Dessert

Mince Pies

A pastry filled with a mixture of dried fruit, spices, and meat, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 20 ingredients
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Mince Pies

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mincemeat

  1. Stone and cut the raisins once or twice across, but do not chop them.

  2. Wash, dry, and pick the currants free from stalks and grit.

  3. Mince the beef and suet, taking care that the suet is chopped very fine.

  4. Slice the citron and candied peel.

  5. Grate the nutmeg.

  6. Pare, core, and mince the apples.

  7. Mince the lemon peel and strain the juice.

  8. Mix all ingredients together, adding the brandy when the other things are well blended.

  9. Press the mixture into a jar, carefully exclude the air, and let it rest for a fortnight before use.

Make and bake the pies

  1. Make puff pastry by recipe; roll it out to a thickness of about ¼ inch.

  2. Line patty pans with the pastry.

  3. Fill the pans with the prepared mincemeat.

  4. Cover with pastry and cut off all around close to the edge of the tin.

  5. Put the pies into a brisk oven to draw the paste up, baking for 25 minutes or longer if large.

  6. Brush the pies with egg white beaten to a stiff froth.

  7. Sprinkle over pounded sugar.

  8. Put the pies into the oven for a minute or two to dry the egg.

Serve

  1. Dish the pies on a white dish and serve hot.

  2. (Optional) They may be merely sprinkled with pounded sugar instead of being glazed.

  3. To rewarm, put the pies on the patty pans and let them remain in the oven for 10 minutes or ¼ hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

240Calories
2 gProtein
2 gFat
60 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mint2 tbsp fresh (3g)2
Brandynot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Pienot 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 Isabella Beeton. 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Orange + appletop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet (in the method)
Adds fat and richness to the filling, keeping it moist and tender.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the mincemeat.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and helps preserve the mincemeat during its resting period.
Currants (in the method)
Provide chewy sweetness and body to the filling.
Raisins (in the method)
Provide chewy sweetness and body to the filling.
Egg white
Beaten to a froth, it dries and forms a glossy, browned glaze on the pastry.

The step that matters

Let the mincemeat rest for a fortnight in a sealed jar. Excluding air and resting lets the flavours blend and the brandy mellow, while keeping the mixture from spoiling. Using it too soon gives a harsher, less cohesive filling.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, orange, vinegar, nutmeg, apple, lemon, mint):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, orange, vinegar, nutmeg, apple, lemon, mint. 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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