Name: Mince Meat for Christmas Pie
Ingredients: 1 pound beef suet; 1 pound muscatel raisins, stoned; 1 pound apples, peeled and chopped; ½ pound lemon peel, chopped; 1 pound currants, washed; 1 pound minced beef; 2 ounces sweet spice powder; brandy (or rum or wine for moisten)

Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mince Meat for Christmas Pie

Ingredients

1 pound beef suet
1 pound muscatel raisins, stoned
1 pound apples, peeled and chopped
½ pound lemon peel, chopped
1 pound currants, washed
1 pound minced beef
2 ounces sweet spice powder
brandy (or rum or wine for moisten)

Directions

Prepare

Mince the beef suet, muscatel raisins, apples, and lemon peel separately.
Wash and pick the currants.

Mix and store

Mix the minced beef with the other ingredients.
Add the sweet spice powder and mix well.
Put the mixture into a stone jar and moisten with brandy.

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.

Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,291 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,768 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich in flavour.
Muscatel raisins: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Apples: Add moisture and a light tartness that balances the sweetness.
Currants: Add sweetness and chewy texture throughout the mixture.
Minced beef: Gives savoury body and substance to the filling.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, apple, currant, brandy):

Figfits better
Plumfits better
Apricotfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, currant, brandy. 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.