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Dessert

Geandmot-her's Mince Meat

A sweet, spiced mincemeat mixture of beef, fruit, spices, and spirits baked in puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Geandmot-her's Mince Meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the beef or tongue in hot water until tender, then let it cool in the cooking water.

  2. Chop the meat finely, peeling the skin off the tongue if used.

Make the mincemeat

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped meat, raisins, currants, brown sugar, molasses, chopped apples, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, lemon rind, lemon juice, citron, brandy, rum, cider, cayenne, and enough meat stock to moisten.

  2. Mix well and boil in a porcelain kettle for 10 minutes, then let it cool.

  3. Pack the mixture into a crock and store in a cool place.

Bake and serve

  1. Line a deep pie plate with puff pastry, fill with the mince meat, and add a spoonful of butter.

  2. Cover with a slightly larger pastry top, make three incisions on each side of the middle, pinch the edges, and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 45 minutes.

  3. Remove from the oven, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar, and return to the oven until the sugar melts. Serve hot or cold.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  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

Sirloin beef or tongue
Provides the meaty body of the filling after being boiled and chopped.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while it is stored.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness and a rich, dark color to the filling.
Tart apples
Add acidity and moisture, giving the filling a bright, fresh bite.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, layered crust that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Cooling the cooked meat before chopping and mixing. Letting the meat cool in its cooking water keeps it moist and tender, so it chops cleanly and does not dry out in the filling.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, molasses, apple, cinnamon, 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.

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