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Mince Meat

A stew of minced meat, apples, cider, molasses, and spices cooked together.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the chopped meat, apples, sweet cider, molasses, sugar, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, and raisins. Mix well and cook over medium heat for 2 hours.

  2. After 2 hours, add 1 pint of sweet cider and stir to combine.

  3. For added flavor, you can include finely chopped quinces.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

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

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide bulk and natural sweetness, softening into the stew as it cooks.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a rich, deep flavor to the stew.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the stew.
Sweet cider
Adds liquid and fruity acidity that keeps the mixture moist as it cooks.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, cider, molasses, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Applethe original
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Orangefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, cider, molasses, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, clove. 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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