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Dessert

Mince Pie

A savory pie filled with ground beef, suet, apples, raisins, currants, citron, spices, cider, molasses, vinegar, and sweet pickle syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beef, suet, apples, raisins, currants, and citron.

  2. Add the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, cider, molasses, vinegar, and sweet pickle syrup.

  3. Mix well and sweeten to taste.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill a pie crust with the mixture and cover with another crust if desired.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.

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. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 savory bulk of the filling.
Suet
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the filling from drying out as it bakes.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness, and body to the filling.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy texture through the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and deep, rich flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, rich filling.

Swap the currant

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

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

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