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Mince Meat

A sweet meat mixture of beef, apples, raisins, molasses, and spices, cooked slowly and stored in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

  2. Cook the mixture for 1½ hours over low heat.

  3. Put the cooked mixture into jars for storage.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Syrup + molassestop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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 savory base of the filling.
Apple
Adds moisture and tartness that balance the sweetness of the molasses and sugar.
Suet
Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a moist, tender mouthfeel as it cooks.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness, depth of flavor, and moisture to the mixture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the mixture.

The step that matters

Cooking over low heat. Gentle, slow cooking lets the apple, meat, and fats soften and blend evenly while the sugars thicken without scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, syrup, apple, butter, sugar, clove, molasses):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, syrup, apple, butter, sugar, clove, molasses. 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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Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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