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Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef, suet, fruit, spices, and alcohol, packed into jars and sealed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil 3 pounds of beef until tender, then let it cool and chop finely.

  2. Mix the chopped beef with 3 pounds of finely chopped suet.

  3. Add 6 pounds of apples, 4 pounds of currants, 6 pounds of raisins, and 2 pounds of citron.

  4. Season with powdered cinnamon, mace, cloves, and nutmeg to taste.

Combine and pack

  1. Add boiled cider, brandy, and wine until the mixture is quite soft.

  2. Mix well and pack into stone jars.

  3. Pour brandy over the top and 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. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

  4. Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling moist and tender as it sets.
Apples
Add moisture and a tart flavour that balances the sweetness.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chewy texture and body to the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Beef (in the method)
Adds savoury meatiness and body to the filling.
Brandy
Adds aroma and helps keep the mixture soft and preserved.

The step that matters

Cover the jars tightly. Sealing the jars limits air contact, which slows spoilage and keeps the filling from drying out or growing mould.

Swap the currant

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

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

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