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Dessert

Imitation Mince Meat

A preserved fruit mixture of tomatoes, apples, raisins, currants, and spices, sweetened with sugar and suet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Imitation Mince Meat

makes 6 quarts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Grind and salt the tomatoes overnight, then squeeze out the liquid in the morning.

  2. Pour scalding water over the tomatoes and let them simmer for 10 minutes.

Mix and cook

  1. Squeeze out the liquid again and mix all ingredients together.

  2. Add a good pinch of salt and let it boil slowly for 1 hour.

Jar

  1. Seal in jars.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the mince and give it body once drained.
Apples
Add tartness and soft body that blends into the mixture.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the mince and helps preserve it by drawing out moisture.
Raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Suet
Adds fat and richness, giving a moist, tender texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweetness and balances the fruit.

The step that matters

Slow boil for 1 hour. A mixture this high in sugar can scorch on the bottom of the pan at a hard boil. Keeping the heat gentle and stirring regularly prevents sticking and burning while the sugar concentrates and the fruit softens.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, raisin, currant, cinnamon, clove, 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 fruit mince recipes

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