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Mince Meat

A savory mixture of lean beef, apples, suet, raisins, currants, citron, spices, sweet cider, sugar, and salt, used as pie filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Combine the chopped beef, apples, suet, raisins, currants, and citron in a large bowl.

  2. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and enough sweet cider to moisten the mixture.

  3. Stir in the sugar and salt.

Cook and store

  1. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a stone jar.

  3. When ready to use, add brandy to taste before making into pies.

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.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty body and rich savoury base of the filling.
Apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of sugar and dried fruit.
Suet
Adds fat that gives a rich, moist texture to the filling.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.

The step that matters

Boiling the mixture for 10 minutes. Boiling brings the moist, fruit-and-meat mixture to a steady heat that helps cook the beef and apples through. Stirring it occasionally keeps the fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, apple, raisin, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, cider):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Quincefits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, 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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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