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Mince Meat

A preserved minced beef dish with spices, dried fruit, and sweeteners, cooked slowly and stored in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 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

Cook the beef

  1. Boil the beef in enough water to cover it, skimming off the scum as it rises.

  2. Add hot water as needed until the beef is tender.

  3. Remove the lid and add salt.

  4. Boil until almost dry, turning the meat occasionally.

  5. Let it cool overnight.

  6. Pick out bones, gristle, and stringy bits. Chop the meat very fine.

  7. Mince the beef suet.

Combine the fruit and spices

  1. Combine the raisins, currants, citron, and chopped apples in a large pan.

  2. Add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmegs, lemon juice and rinds, salt, pepper, and sugar to the pan.

  3. Combine boiled cider (or juice), molasses, and butter in a porcelain kettle.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Pour the boiling mixture over the ingredients in the pan. Mix thoroughly.

Pack and store

  1. Pack the mixture into jars.

  2. Store in a cool place.

  3. Once cool, pour molasses over the top. 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. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty bulk, which becomes tender through long simmering and then dries out to a rich filling.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the mincemeat moist and gives it a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy moisture to the filling.
Tart cooking apples
Add acidity and moisture, balancing the sweetness of the sugar and molasses.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture in storage.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness, and a rich flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the beef until almost dry. Cooking off the liquid concentrates the meat's flavor and leaves it firm enough to chop finely. Stopping early leaves excess moisture that can spoil the mincemeat in storage.

Swap the currant

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

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

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

More mince meat recipes

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

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