Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Mince Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Boil the beef tongue and vein of round beef for 6 hours.
Skin the tongue and chop the beef and tongue very fine.
Mix and rest
Add the chopped beef suet, raisins, currants, citron, brown sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmegs, and mace to a large pan.
Mix everything well with your hands and let it stand overnight.
Bake and serve
When ready to bake, take a portion into another pan and add half as much fine-chopped apples as you have meat.
Mix well and let it stand for 1 hour.
If not sweet enough, add more sugar and a little more wine.
Store any remaining meat in a jar with a little brandy, covering it tightly.
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.
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Brandy + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together620 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef tongue
- Provides rich, tender meat that forms the body of the filling.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and gives it a rich texture.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and deep caramel flavor to the filling.
- Molasses
- Contributes dark color, sweetness and a robust, slightly bitter flavor.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and acts as a preservative that helps keep the meat stable.
The step that matters
Overnight rest after mixing. Letting the spiced meat, fruit and liquor stand overnight allows the flavors to blend and the liquid to be absorbed evenly, so the filling tastes unified rather than harsh.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, raisin, sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, cinnamon):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, sugar, molasses, brandy, white wine, cinnamon. 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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