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Mince-meat

A preserved beef dish with suet, dried fruit, spices, and sweetened liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Mince-meat

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

Cook the beef

  1. Boil the beef in enough water to cover it, skimming off the scum.

  2. Add hot water as needed until the beef is tender.

  3. Remove the lid, add salt, and boil until almost dry, turning the meat occasionally.

  4. Let the meat cool overnight, then pick out bones and chop finely.

Mix the mincemeat

  1. Mince the beef suet and combine it with the chopped meat in a large pan.

  2. Seed and cut the raisins, wash and dry the currants, slice the citron, and chop the apples.

  3. Add the raisins, currants, citron, apples, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmegs, lemon juice and rind, salt, pepper, and sugar to the pan.

  4. In a porcelain kettle, combine the boiled cider (or juice), molasses, and butter; bring to a boil.

  5. Pour the boiling mixture over the ingredients in the pan and mix thoroughly.

Store

  1. Pack the mixture into jars, cover with molasses, and seal tightly.

  2. Store in a cool place; it will keep for two months.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the savoury body of the mincemeat once cooked, boiled, and finely chopped.
Beef suet
Adds fat that gives the filling richness and a moist, smooth texture.
Raisins
Provide concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve it.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, depth of flavour, and moisture to the mixture.
Tart apples
Add acidity and moisture that balance the sweetness and richness.

The step that matters

Boil the beef until almost dry. Cooking off the moisture concentrates the meat's flavour and keeps the filling from becoming watery, which would encourage spoilage during storage.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg. 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

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