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Mince Pies

A savory pie made with tender beef, apples, suet or butter, molasses, brown sugar, raisins, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Mince Pies

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 ↓

Mince Pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Boil the beef in a small amount of water until tender, adding more water as needed to prevent burning.

  2. Remove the bone and gristle, and keep the cooking liquid.

  3. Once the meat is cold, chop it finely and mix with chopped suet or butter and a little salt.

Make the filling

  1. In a large pot, combine the chopped meat, apples, molasses, brown sugar, raisins, and jelly or cider.

  2. Cook the mixture until the apples are soft.

  3. When ready to make the pies, stir in the nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and wine or brandy if desired.

  4. For richer pies, add washed currants or citron to 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 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

Lean beef
Provides the meaty body of the filling once cooked very tender and chopped fine.
Suet or butter
Adds richness and a rounded, moist texture to the chopped meat mixture.
Tart apples
Add moisture and a bright acidity that balances the sweetness of the filling.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep flavor and moisture, and helps sweeten the filling.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the filling and adds caramel notes that deepen its flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Cook the filling until the apples are soft. Apples that stay firm will keep their raw bite and uneven texture inside the pies. Cooking them until soft lets them break down and blend evenly with the meat and sugars.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

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

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