Name: Brandy Mince for Pies
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh beef suet; 1 pound sugar; 1 pound currants; 1 pound apples; ¼ pound citron; ¼ pound orange peel; juice of 1 lemon; grated peel of 2 lemons; 1 glass brandy

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Brandy Mince for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash, pick, and dry the currants.
Mince the suet and apples with the citron and orange peel.

Combine

Add the lemon juice and grated lemon peel.
Mix all ingredients well, then gradually add the 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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef suet: Adds richness and a moist, tender texture to the mince.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Currants: Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture as they soften.
Apples: Add moisture and tartness that balances the sweet fruit.
Brandy: Adds aroma and helps keep the mince from spoiling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, apple, orange, lemon, brandy):

Figfits better
Apricotfits better
Blackberryfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, apple, orange, lemon, 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.