Why it works: Mace and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Mince Meat
Ingredients
Directions
MRS. EDWARD JACQUELIN SMITH, KING GEORGE CO., VA.
Three lbs. of fruit consisting of sultana raisins, smyrna and citron, 3 lbs. of chopped apples, 2½ lbs. suet and cold round of beef or tongue, 3 lbs. best brown sugar, 6 teaspoons of spices consisting of mace, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, also cinnamon; ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, the rind of a large lemon, 1 oz. of preserved orange peel, ½ pt. of Madeira, ½ pt. of best French brandy, ½ pt. of old Jamaica spirit. Mix all well together and let stand some days before using. Cover a dish with light puff paste, fill with mixture. Cover with paste and serve hot.
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.
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Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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
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