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Dessert

Mince-meat for Lent

A sweet mince pie made with raisins, currants, sugar, citron, wine, rose-water, brandy, spices, and eggs, suitable for Lent.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mince-meat for Lent

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Boil a dozen eggs until hard.

  2. Chop the yolks very finely.

  3. Chop a dozen pippins.

  4. Chop two pounds of sultana raisins.

Make the filling

  1. Add two pounds of currants, a pound of sugar, a tablespoon of powdered cinnamon, a teaspoon of beaten mace, three powdered nutmegs, the juice and grated peel of three large lemons, and half a pound of citron cut into large strips.

  2. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and moisten the whole with a pint of white wine, half a pint of rose-water, and half a pint of brandy.

Bake

  1. Bake it in very nice paste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

166Calories
1 gProtein
1 gFat
36 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 Eliza Leslie. 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. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Sultana raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the filling as they soften.
Currants
Contribute concentrated fruit sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the moist fruit filling.
White wine
Moistens the mixture and adds acidity and aroma to the filling.
Brandy
Moistens the filling and adds aroma while helping preserve it.

The step that matters

Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and moisten the whole with the wine, rose-water and brandy. Even distribution of the liquids keeps every bite evenly moist and prevents dry pockets or soggy spots in the filling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, white wine, rose, brandy, nutmeg, lemon):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, white wine, rose, brandy, nutmeg, lemon. 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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