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Mince Meat

A preserved meat mixture of beef tongue, dried fruit, spices, and alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mincemeat

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the beef tongue, raisins, currants, suet, citron, brown sugar, apples, lemon juice and rind, orange juice and rind, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a stone crock.

  3. Pour the brandy and sherry or madeira over the mixture and mix well.

Rest and season

  1. Cover the crock and let it stand for a day or two.

  2. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary.

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. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef tongue
Provides the meaty body and savoury bulk that the fruit and spice mixture is built around.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they soften in the alcohol.
Beef suet
Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a moist, mellow texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper, molasses-like flavour.
Pippin apples
Contribute moisture and tart acidity that balances the sweetness.
Brandy
Acts as a preservative and carries the spice and fruit aromas through the mixture.

The step that matters

Resting the crock for a day or two. Standing lets the alcohol, fruit juices and spices soak into the meat and dried fruit, so the flavours blend and mellow. Cutting the rest short leaves the mixture harsh and uneven.

Swap the currant

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

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

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

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