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Mince Pie

A savory pie filled with finely chopped beef, suet, raisins, currants, citron, sugar, spices, brandy, and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the filling

  1. Combine the beef, suet, raisins, currants, citron, and brown sugar in a large bowl.

  2. Add the cloves, mace, cinnamon, allspice, and season to taste.

  3. Stir in the brandy until well mixed.

Make and bake the pies

  1. When ready to make the pies, add 1 chopped apple for every 4 tablespoons of mince meat.

  2. Fill pie crusts with the mixture and bake until golden.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 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. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides savory meaty body and bulk to the mincemeat filling.
Suet
Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavor through the filling.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps preserve the mixture.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the filling.
Currants
Add tart, concentrated fruit flavor and chewiness to the filling.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, clove, mace, cinnamon, allspice. 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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