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Mince Meat

A sweet mixture of beef, apples, suet, dried fruit, spices, and cider, stored for later use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mincemeat

  1. Combine the chopped beef and apples in a large bowl.

  2. Add the sugar, citron, raisins, currants, and suet to the mixture.

  3. Pour in the boiled cider and add the coarse sea salt, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. Mix well and add enough sweet cider to make the mixture moist.

Store

  1. Store in a cool place until ready to use.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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 savoury base of the mincemeat.
Apples
Add moisture, tartness and bulk that balance the sweetness.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it by binding water.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture rich and moist as it matures.
Boiled cider
Concentrates sweetness and acidity while adding moisture and depth of flavour.
Raisins
Contribute chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness.

The step that matters

Adding enough sweet cider. The mixture must be moist enough to hold together and resist spoilage, but not so wet that it ferments. Adding liquid gradually and mixing well lets you judge the texture before storing.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, sugar, raisin, cider, nutmeg, 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.

More mince meat recipes

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

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