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Mince Pie Meat

A savory‑sweet pie made with chopped meat, apples, suet, sweet cider, brown sugar, molasses, butter, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Pie Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Simmer slowly for four hours, stirring occasionally.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Apple + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together998 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped meat
Provides the savory body and bulk of the filling.
Chopped apples
Add moisture and tartness that balance the sweet spices and sugar.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and silky as it cooks.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, and helps preserve the filling during long cooking.
Molasses
Contributes dark color, deep sweetness and a robust flavor.
Boiled cider
Concentrates apple flavor and adds acidity and sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Slow simmer for four hours. A gentle, prolonged simmer lets the meat, fruit and sugars break down and blend evenly. Boiling hard can scorch the sugars and molasses on the bottom of the pot, and stirring occasionally prevents sticking and uneven cooking.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, cider, sugar, molasses, butter, allspice, 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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