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Mince Meat

A sweet mixture of chopped beef, suet, raisins, citron, lemons, quince, spices, cider, brandy and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,301 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, crushed oyster crackers, cider, cherry wine, brandy, and spices.

  2. Add the chopped beef, suet, raisins, brown sugar, citron, chopped lemons, quince, and salt. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are well combined.

  3. Add twice the amount of apples to the mixture.

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 + cherrytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the meaty body and richness that gives the mincemeat its substance.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and gives a rich mouthfeel.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the mixture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture while helping to preserve the mixture.
Molasses
Contributes deep sweetness, dark color, and a robust flavor.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, sugar, oyster, cider, molasses, cherry):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, oyster, cider, molasses, cherry. 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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