Name: Mince Pies
Ingredients: 1 shin of beef, boiled until very tender; ½ pound beef suet, chopped very fine; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 6 pounds greening apples, peeled, cored, and chopped; 3 pounds raisins, stoned; 3 pounds currants, cleaned; 1 pound brown sugar; 1 cup maple syrup; ½ pound citron, shredded; ½ pound candied lemon peel; 1 quart cider (or 1 quart Madeira wine and a little brandy, optional)

Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

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.

Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,238 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Currant + cidertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Apple + maple syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together272 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef shin: Provides the meat that gives the filling its body and savoury richness.
Beef suet: Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Greening apples: Supply tartness and moisture, balancing the sweetness of the sugar and fruit.
Raisins: Add sweetness and chewy texture through the filling.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and depth, and helps preserve the filling.
Cider: Adds moisture and acidity that blends the filling's flavours together.

Swap the lemon

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

Figfits better
Pearfits better
Plumfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, apple, raisin, currant, sugar, maple syrup, cider. 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.