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Dessert

Mince Meat

A preserved mixture of beef, suet, apples, spices, cider, sugar, molasses, raisins, currants, citron, and lemon, used for pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 meat and fruit

  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, slice, and chop the apples.

  4. Chop the suet and citron, stone the raisins, wash the currants, and grate the lemon rind.

Make the mixture

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

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

  3. To preserve, place in a preserving kettle and let it scald through on the back of the range.

Finish for pies

  1. Optionally, spread butter on each pie before covering, and adjust sugar and salt 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.

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

Round beef
Provides the bulk and savoury meat body that gives mincemeat its texture.
Suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the filling moist and smooth.
Apples
Contribute moisture, tartness and body to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps preserve it.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and depth of flavour.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup over the other ingredients. The hot cider, sugar and suet mixture must be poured over the mixed ingredients while still hot so the sugar dissolves and the fat and fruit warm together, helping the filling blend evenly and keeping it moist.

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.

More mince meat recipes

Pie Filling 11Pie 10with Apples 9Preserved 8Apple 7Mock 7 See all 183 →

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