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Dessert

Rich Mince Meat

A preserved mixture of beef, suet, dried fruit, spices, and sweet cider, boiled and stored in jars.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mincemeat

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large kettle.

  2. Scald the mixture over heat, stirring constantly.

  3. While hot, transfer the mixture into 2-quart or 1-gallon jars.

Store

  1. Allow to sit; the longer it is kept, the better it will taste.

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. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple 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 savoury richness that defines traditional mincemeat.
Suet
Adds fat that gives the filling a rich, moist, mouthcoating texture.
Raisins
Contribute sweetness, chewy texture, and moisture to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it by binding water.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and depth of flavour, along with moisture.
Sweet cider
Supplies the liquid that moistens the mixture and carries the spices and fruit.

The step that matters

Scalding while stirring constantly. Heating the mixture while stirring keeps the dense fruit, sugar and fat from scorching on the bottom of the kettle, and the hot mixture is then sealed in jars to help it keep.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, raisin, apple, sugar, molasses, 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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