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Dessert

Mince Pie

A savory pie made with beef, suet, apples, currants, raisins, citron, and spices, baked in a stone jar and topped with brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil the beef until tender, then let it cool and chop finely.

  2. Mix the chopped beef with the suet.

  3. Add salt, apples, currants, raisins, citron, and sugar.

  4. Season with cinnamon, mace, cloves, and nutmeg to taste.

  5. Add boiled cider, brandy, and wine until the mixture is soft.

Store

  1. Pack the mixture into stone jars, pour brandy over the top, and cover tightly.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides savory meat body that gives the filling its traditional substance.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich in texture.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness and bulk to the filling.
Currants
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they plump in the liquids.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewiness, softening as the mixture sits.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the filling's flavor over time.

The step that matters

Add boiled cider, brandy, and wine until the mixture is soft. Liquids must be added gradually so dried fruit and suet absorb them evenly. Adding too much at once can make the filling wet and loose, while too little leaves it dry and stiff, affecting texture and how well it keeps.

Swap the currant

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

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

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