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Mince Meat

A preserved beef mince with apples, spices, cider, molasses, and raisins, cooked and scalded for long-term storage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 ↓

Mince Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef and apples

  1. Boil the beef in a small amount of water until tender, leaving 1-2 cups of liquid.

  2. Chop the meat very fine.

  3. Peel the apples, then slice and chop them.

Prepare the remaining ingredients

  1. Chop the suet finely.

  2. Chop the citron.

  3. Stone the raisins.

  4. Wash the currants.

  5. Grate the lemon rind and squeeze out the lemon juice.

Cook and combine

  1. In a porcelain-lined kettle, boil the cider, vinegar, molasses, sugar, and suet together.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the well-mixed other ingredients.

  3. Place the mixture in a preserving kettle and let it scald through on the back of the range.

  4. Add a little extra salt and sugar.

Finish

  1. Spread bits of butter on each pie before covering.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Adds body and savoury richness to the filling as it is cooked tender and chopped fine.
Suet
Provides fat that keeps the filling moist and rich.
Apples
Contribute moisture, bulk and tartness to the filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.
Molasses
Adds dark colour and deep, treacle-like sweetness.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the mixture.

The step that matters

Letting the mixture scald through. Sugar-rich fruit mixtures can scorch on the bottom of the kettle if left unstirred, and the mixture must be heated thoroughly so the sugar and acid can preserve it well for storage.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cider, sugar):

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Applethe original
  3. Orangefits about as well
  4. Raisinfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg, cider, sugar. 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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