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Dessert

Rich Mince-meat

A preserved fruit and meat mixture containing beef or tongue, dried fruit, sugar, spices, citrus, alcohol, and suet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Rich Mince-meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the chopped beef or tongue, raisins, currants, brown sugar, granulated sugar, chopped apples, cinnamon, mace, powdered cloves, sliced citron, brandy, wine, cider, orange rind, orange juice, and chopped suet in a large bowl, then mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

  2. Let the mixture stand for a few days to allow the flavors to develop before using.

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef or fresh tongue
Provides the meaty body and savory richness that gives traditional mincemeat its character.
Suet
Adds fat that carries flavor and gives the filling a moist, rich mouthfeel.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness and bulk to the filling.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, with a molasses depth that rounds out the spices.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and acts as a preservative that helps the mixture keep during standing.

The step that matters

Letting the mixture stand. The mixture needs several days so the spices, fruit and alcohol blend and mellow. Using it too soon gives sharp, unmerged flavors.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, currant, sugar, 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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